Pueblo chieftain., 1921-01-19
BY FREDERIC ]. uAsK1N

BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN
New York City, Jan. 16.-What
does the dispensary do for the health
| of the city, and what more could 1t
do?
These are the questions which tho
Public Health Committee of the New
York Academy of Medicine has recent
ly sought to answer by an extensive
Investigation of New York dispensaries
and the people who patronize them.
The growth of the dispensary dur
! ing the past twenty years has been
phenomenal. In 1904, there were
/ only $50 dispensaries in the entiro
United States. whereas today there arc
a: least 5000. From a few dingy
rooms. presided over by couple of
doctors whose chief duty was the vac
| cination of people against smallpox.
the dispensary has developed into a
modern, wcll-equipped. small hospital.
where the poasr receive almost free of
charge the same treatment for which
the wealthy pay large sums.
| In New York there are now 1913
dispenSaries. In this number are in
cluded twenty-one tuberculosis, eight
/ dental, ten eye and three rabies cli-
mics of the department of health, and
| six school clinics maintained by the
Children's Aid Society. or the 105
remaining. siSty-five arc out-patient
departments of hospitals. thirty-four
are detached dispensarics, and six
are connected with colleges. In ad-
dition, the health department main
tains twelve venercal diseases clinics
! talI but two advisory only), three
occupatior:i clinics and sixty baby
health stations. Several private ngen-
cies also maintain an additional mum
| Der of milk stations
The average number of persons
! treated annually in New York dis
\
million for the last five years. over
1000 New York physicians are Civ
ing their services to this cause in
most cases absolutely without com
pcnsauon.
, Thus, New York is pientifully sup
piled with dispensaries. but tho Public
Health Committee believes that their
quality could be improved upon.
Fault. OF Dispen.arie.
"of late tho dispensaries havo taken
on functions along the lines OF pre-
ventive medicine and public health,
4 but this development is still in its in
| fancy is the committees first criti-
cism. The great opportunities OF tho
dispcnssrics in the fields OF both cura-
/ tive and preventive medicine have not
rs yet been fully grasped by tho insti-
| tutions. nor have their social respon-
| sibilities been clearly realized
the dispensaries quite efficient in tho
| treatment of specific ills. such AS an
abscessed ear or n broken leg. but they
do not give complete physical cNami-
nations TO determine tho general
health of patient. they do not go in
for educational work, such as the
teaching OF good health habits, and
they do not have the time for the sort
of follow-up work that would make
them one OF the greatest social influ-
onces in the community. only few
of the dispensarics, as yet, have we'll
, organized social service departments.
Two things that also need immc-
diate ameiioration in clinic procedure.
II says, are the reduction OF waiting
time before admission and tho method
of assignment OF patients TO clinics.
Patients are made to wait unduly long
periods of time. which is "a hardship
for most of them IL they are employed.
or. as in the case of mothers, II they
have domestic duties. Tho commit
tee believes that this could be obviat-
cd by a system OF appointments. as les
customary in private practice. Such n
system is now proving very SUCCESS
full at the Mayo Clinic at Rochester.
Then. in most dispensaries. tho
symptoms of the patients are recorded
by lay regis 1lr.-usually. the clinic
sccrotary-who makes "A rough dia-
snosis and assigns the patient to the
particular department OF tho clinic
which will take care OF him. But
often. after hours of waiting. when he
arrives at this department. the dia-
grosis turns out to be incorrect. and
he has TO be transferred TO an entire
ly different dcpartment-someti TO
an entirely different clinic.
The committee believes that this
evil could easily be corrected II each
clinic had a diagnosis division. whero
patients with chronic diseases or with
not easily recognizable maladics. could
receive an examination by a group OF
physicians representing the various de-
partnents of the dispensary. Because
you have kidney trouble. II is not to
be supposed that you have nothing
else the matter with you. a general
examination may disclose other ills
that need attention.
The Waiting Line
At an afternoon clinic recently visit
cd by the reporter. over fifty people
of the hard-workinE type were wait
Ing for their registrations and first
| treatments. Some of them wcro OBJ
viously suffering. but they continued