The Washington times., 1920-06-12
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ner store behind which j found
6lthy room with dirty linen all
about occupied by an emaeisted
woman who looked as II she had
eonsumption In the other room
In. kitchen, her husband was Ill In
bed with double pneumonia. AS
usuaI. took the pulse, tempera-
ture and respiration, then proceed
I'D To clean up the two rooms
gathering up all the dirty linen
and putting IL on the porch. sweep
ing out the rooms and washing the
dishes. There was only one clean
sheet left in the house, and not
enough bedclothes. 4 siAteen-year-
old girl. the daughter, who looked
rather like a defective. came in' ana
a child with a bad cough; the fam
lily was apparently poor whits
trash. They were all too III 10
think or talk very much, but had
had a doctor, though no nurse
/ cooked up something for them TO
eat. and went on.
Nv next card read urgent" l ran
into what might have been a board
ing-house, near the Capitol. No one
answered my ring. but that was not
unusual. l called, but got no an
swer. The house seemed empty
Thinking 4 heard sound inside
opened the door and went In.
Upstairs l found a sitting-room.
very dirty. and filled with bottles.
glasses, and cigar ashes. i won
dered what kind of a place II could
be. A bedroom opened from II, and
in bed there lay pretty young girl
very i'll with influenza.
She told me that she had only
been in town a couple of days, and
that her landlady worked In a Gov
ernment office, so that she was out.
Like most of the newcomers. this
girl was short of everything but
nimsy lingerie and silk stockings.
thought the landlady was prob
ably disreputable. and was getting
quite excited about 1t. when she
came in and to my surprise ! found
her very nice Southern woman
who promised to do everything for
the girl. So | knew she was at
least all right for the night. What
the doctor decided next day l never
heard.
A little Jewish couple interested
me especially: he was devoted to
his young wife and took entire care
of her; their rooms were as neat as
exhausted, and so I asked that
nurse should be sent there daily.
was reporting at headquarters
when a man came in and said two
brothers, friends ofNhis, were dan
ferously i'll. The matron asked mo
to go at once with him to the house
where they lived. I found one pa
tient quite out of his head and the
other dying. An old woman was
taking care of them very made
auately. While / was there the doc
tor arrived and declared they would
both die. 1t was too late to send
them to a hospital. even II he could
get them in, which was almost an
impossibiiity. I bathed them and
putclean sheets on bed The man
who was delirious insisted on my
showing him his new derby hat.
which he never had chance TO
wear, poor felolw. 1t was in this
place that I first put on a mask. for
they had the influenza very viru-
lently.
Some Of the cases, even in their
desperation, had a grotesque side
A nurse on arriving at lodging
house was greeted by the landlady
with a torrent of oaths. She said
all the people there were sick, and
no help of any kind could she get
why hadn't the nurse appeared
before? The girl tried to explain
that there were so many i'll that II
had been impossible for her to ar
rive sooner ending. Il have been
extremely busy"
"Busy?" cried the woman, "busy?'
She pointed through the window.
"Do you see that funeral just leav-
ing for the cemetery? Well, ] am
so busy I can't go to my own hus-
bands funeral"
Because of my experience at the
front and also during the epidemic,
I found il difficult to give up work
entirely, and after the Influenza
was over visited some Of the hospi-
tails around Washington in the hope
Of being able to help in one way or
another.
The Government was sending its
worst cases OF war neurosis, or
"shelI shock" to Saint Elizabeth's,
the District Of Columbia Hospital
for the insane. which was the sub
ject OF much discussion and inves-
tigation. / had visited so many in
stitutions on the other side and on
this that I was interested to see
Cor riyseIt how things were going,
ana asked a good many questions Of
Red Cross men, officials, and patti
ents regarding the management I
went through number of the
wards where some OF the most criti-
cal cases lay, and into the private
rooms and parlors, and through
the kitchens. In such a huge es-
tablishment the continual stream
OF arrivals from overseas and con-
scduent overcrowding caused one
to make allowances.
Certainly the food needed i'm
provement, however. and there
should have been more attendants
to take the men out of doors for air
and exercise. At that time no at
tempt had been made to give the
patients work or handicraft diver
sions. They were not employed in
gardening. though there were large
and beautiful grounds through
which those who were we'll enough
could roam about and play games.
II did seem as IL st. Elizabeth's,
Of all places, most needed occupa-
tional therapy. Many hospitals
were badly in need OF ambulapccs,
but this one must have been the
worst off OF all, for even in war
time Il had only one, and that