The Palatka news and advertiser., 1916-11-24
. CARE OF CRIPPLED Chill
DREN.



More people in Florida than should
be, are ignorant of wise and most
excellent and useful service that the
state supports by appropriation from
its funds. Attention has been called
to it before in the Press Service, but
it is a matter about which repetition
is warranted.
1t is a provision by which the Grip
pied children of parents who are una
ble to pay for costly medical or sur
gical service and nursing, may have
the benefit of the best care and treat
ment, under the direction of skilled
physicians and every chance given
them for cure complete and thorough.
Every necessary thing that the rich
est can buy is offered free to the
children of poorer parents.
Every child is born with the right
to health and happiness. Prenatal
influences and causes attending and
Immediately following birth deprive
many children-more than the lay
man suspects-of physical strength
and fitness, and handicap them at the
start in their equipment to face life's
IIUDlclllS Will any pt'l IiNNA|tI Siis'iiNS
of success. When they are born in
poverty the chances for cure are small
because medical attention and care
cost money, often large sums, which
only the well-to-do can spare from
their means.
The Legislature of 1911 provided
for an appropriation for the erection
of a hospital for the free treatment
of INDECENT crippled children of Flori-
da parents, and for ten thousand dol
lars to be set aside annually for the
maintenance of the institution. But
this appropriation or provision for the
same was negatived, by declaring that
until the number of children should
require a separate institution, the lit
tie patients should be cared for in a
hospital or hospitals already in oper-
alton, and the expense borne from the
State Board of Health's treasury, and
so it happens that the hospital is still
promise of the future, depending
upon the charitable inclination of
some future Legislature, and the
white children are cared for at st.
Lukes Hospital, and the little colored
patients at Brewster Hospital, both
4 located in Jacksonville.
The treatment of these children
since the establishment of the service,
has been under the direction of skill
4 ed physicians and some of the remark
able cures effected have become rec
= ords in the history of American medi-
l cal practice. Some children, SEEM
, ingly helplessly crippled have been
made whole, and some who appeared
: to be beyond the reach of medical
science have been benefited almost
, beyond belief. And some have been
turned away, because with the facili-
, ties that could be provided from the
. state appropriation, their substantial
betterment was impossible.
; The benefits of this service are op-
en- to any child in Florida, whose par
ents are unable to pay the cost, and
) money can buy no better nor more
= skilled treatment than is offered.
{ Those who may be interested and who
E wish to know more of this remarka-
! BILE opportunity, would do well to ad-
dress the State Health Officer, at the
, State Board of Health offices in Jack
, sonville.
While incalculable good has been
| accomplished through this use of state
funds, the lack of separate hospi-
, tai building, fully equipped to carry
the cures of many cases to compile
4 ton, has limited its usefulness. Sur
gical treatment for the correction of
deformities, especially those due to
some forms of paralysis, should be
: followed in many cases by certain
= minds of exercises, joint manipula-
ton, muscle training and the like, in
: order to make permanent the results
I of operation and to prevent the return
+ of deformity. From time to time the
physician in charge has been compell-
ed, by reason of this lack of facilities,
to recommend that admission be de-
MED to applicants because the cause
: appeared not to be amenable to rea-
. sonably prompt operative cure and the
E means to make such cure permanent
were lacking.
The State of Florida has spent no
moneys more wisely and none that has
| brought more splendid results in the
= restoration to normal strength OF
scores of little men and women to
= whom the outlook seemed without
hope. 1t is open to all who can be
; benefited. and even should the state
appropriation be insufficient in any
} year private generosity is pledged
t that no child shall be turned away,
t who is entitled to the benefits of the
service and who may be helped ty
what the state has provided.-State
Board of Health Bulletin.