New-York tribune., 1918-09-30
The Peoples Hospital

This is a big year in Henry Street, the
street that Miss Lillian Wald made fa-
nous, for it is now twenty-five years
since the founding of the Henry Street
Settlement and since the beginning Of the
priceless services which Miss Wad has
rendered to her city and her time.
The Henry Street Settlement has been
far more than a neighborhood nucleus
for good. In fact, the whole word settle
ment, with its established fringes of sig
nificancc, hardly applies at all to the
work that centres in and about that old
brick house in the heart Of the lower
East Side. "The peoples hospital" is
far more accurate title. OF the ctys
sick only one in ten is hospital case.
The other nine remain at home, and it is
in treating them in furnishing expert
care and expert training for those who
cannot afford trained nurse, that the
Henry Street Settlement has done and
does work inestmably valuable to the
community.
In these war times the work directed
by Miss Wald has vastly increased it's
field and greatly gained in Importance
In the Red Cross parade the Henry
Street Settlement nurses carried this
legend Enlisted by The Red Cross to
care for the sick in the homes of the men
who have been called to the colors.' In
particular, the saving Of child life has
become for the settlement as for the
whole country labor Of obligation and
of love, touching the welbeing. the fut-
ure. The existence of the nation in the
years to come. nder-nourishment and
inadequate heating have increased child
illness, and the visiting nurse has oppor-
tunities greater than ever before for saw
ing life and stimulating the proper care
of children
Miss Wald in her foreword to the re-
port Of the Henry Street Settlement,
1S93-19iS, speaks of the need of central
building for this aspect of IAN age-old
"oman's profession, the public health or
community nurse" The home care of
the sick should be placed on a safer finan-
cial basis, she urges One third of the
cost is met by the people themselves.
The rest must be met by the generosity
of the well-to-do, that higher sense of
responsibility to our fellow men in which
the city grows richer with every passing
year. 1T requires imagination to visual
lze an entire city as hospital, but the
visiting nurses, in reality, constitute
visiting hospital" And of the farreach
ing consequences of such services Miss
Wald we'll says
we must begin early in life even be-
fore life itself starts, that we NAV de-
velop better citizenship. 1t is of para
mount Importance that the nurses should
educate in the home, for the mother H.
after all, the executive in the homo and
upon hef intelligence the nation must
depend for the upbringng of the children
But the mother must be educated. and
that is one of the essential functions of
the visiting nurse.
Save the Children" that is the central
motto Of Henry Street these davs. It is
motto to which the whole country gives
echo. No urgency Of battle can dim it, no
need of the hour for whatever weanon of
war can blind our eyes to our dailv hour
~ obligation toward this ever-arrivinp
1tlon of tomorrow in whose hands must
oon rest all that precious heritage for
which we of to-day fight
1t is debt of rare gratitude and OBJ
legation that the City of New York would
express to Miss Wald on this, the twenty
iltf1 anniversary of her work The Trib
speaks with deep feeling for itself
and for its readers. The city has known no
me- wise or vital labor than that of the
Henry Street Settlement, the creation of
Miss Wall in the devoted service of her
f,llow citizens.