New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-20
Tribune Writer, Who Act
ed as Health Official, De-
scribes Experiences.
PLAGUE WAR WAGED
AGAINST HEAVY ODDS
Ignorance, Parents Obsti-
macy, Landlords Greed
All Hamper Work.
By BLANCHE BRACE.


and back again before you can realize
the stupendous fight the Board Oh
Health is making against infantile
paralysis
As a Board of Health inspector,
spent Yesterday in a section of BROOK
lyn where there are more poliomyeiitis
placards to the block than anywhere
else in the city. With trained nurse
visited patients in homes where ~
per cent of those with the disease die,
as compared with 8 per cent in the
hospitals. !
Before set out | had supposed
knew something of the horrors OF the
epidemic and of the tremendous strug-
gle there has been and must still be
to get it under control. But ] didn't 7
When you have posted the dreaded
quarantine signs yourself, while the in
mates of the house try in panic to tear
them down; when you have witnessed
the suffering Of the children and the ig- |
norance Of the parents and the poverty .
in which many of them live, you only /
begin to understand. You realize better /
the danger of infection when you have /
seen a child die and have told its
parents they must not kiss it, and have /
explained to the undertaken it is to be I
buried in a sealed coffin within twenty /.
four hours.
Fight Is Against Odds.
You come to see the Board of Health 7
is fighting not only disease, but dirt
and ignorance. the child's parents and
the owners of tenements. You under
stand better why doctors from all over
the United States, assembled in Wash
ington recently, marvelled AT the way
New York has met her crisis.
From the Board of Health offices in
New York, where ! obtained Commits
sioner Haven Emerson's permission TO
act as a Board of Health inspector for
sioner John s. Billings 10 the Brooklyn
headquarters. There | was given in
structons by Miss Ada Clark, super
visor of the Prospect District, and set
out with a trained nurse, Mrs. V. c.
Harvey, TO one of the sections where
the tide of the plague is running
strongest.
There were three Of the glazing red
and white signs, that even the babies
have come to fear, at the first place
we visited. Tenements must be plac-
arded on the outside. on the outer door
Of the apartment where the patient
lives, and on his room door, so there
can be no possibility of mistake. Pri-
vate houses have only two quarantine
notices.
How Plague Is Fought.
Straight by the notice reading, "Do
no. enter the door marked with a
special sign" we walked. There is
something about those close-shut doors
which try, perhaps vainly, TO keep the
plague away from the rest of the world,
that makes you hesitate to open them.
The nurse raped and called Board
of Health" through the keyholc, the
door opened and we were inside.
The air was heavy with the strong
odor of saline solution and the room
was very bare and clean. Two chill
dren, in the last two weeks of their
quarantine, were playing on the floor. |
The little girl came hobbling stiffly TO
meet us; the little boy may never walk
again.
"Those papers they are cutting will
he burned here in the apartment Mrs.
Harvey told me. "Those milk bottles"
she added, pointing to a long row of
them, "are not taken away until after
the quarantine is removed. Then they
Gre sterilized.'
She gave a few directions to the
mother and we climbed 20 the top floor.
II stencil of accumulated uncleanliness
ard bad plumbing meeting us in the
hall. The carpet was overgrown with
fungus-like dirt and the torn paper
hung in shreds. IL was a home so
Wretched the Board of Health had TAX
en- the small paralysis patient from his
parents to the hospital. One seven
months'-old baby had died before he
could be moved. Now the place was
% be renovated, and it was the duty
If the inspector to see the work was
done at once.
Must Renoyate Premises.
When n paralysis patient dies or is
taken 20 the hospital, the apartment in
which he has lived must be thoroughly
cleaned within two weeks. The wood
work must be reprinted the old paper
taken otf-there were seven layers OF
il in one room there-and new put on,
and the floors scrubbed with a strong
solution Of soda before they are re-
vanished
cts all right" said Mrs. Harvey.
They've started 10 clean up"
When an infantile paralysis patient
dies or is taken from his home 70 the
hospital, request is sent 10 the owner
of the building to repovate the apart
ment. II this is not needed, a second is
sent. The third is a legal summons.
We came next 10 n tenement whc,e
there was a new case, just reported
Here Mrs. Harvey saw all the Board of
Health requirements were complied
with, every window screened, complete
isolation given the patient, saline solu-
tion used and a servant obtained One
of the most rigid rules is that the
mother who cares for sick child must
not DO any cooking or come in contact
with other children.
Then we went down 10 ell the jan
itor he would be held personally re-
sponsible by the department Cor keep
ing the quarantined children on their
own premises.
How can ! do that" he wanted to
know.
cit must be done" the nurse told
him. "They must not even be allowed
10 go out on the fire escapes
Plague Terrorizes Mothers.
The infantle paralysis placard was
posted-it iS another duty of the jan
itor to see il is not torn down-and we