Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-05-21
CITY HOSPITAL
CAN NOT MEET
ALL DEMANDS

Continued From Page One)
sanitation and assurance of proper treat
ment permits, and yet just Wednesday
afternoon, DR.. Foreman reported, there
was only one vacant bed. Many days
/ there is not a single bed available. In
/ case Of a serious accident, DR.. Foreman
said, It would be necessary to rig DIP
| temporary beds out of Red Cross cots
| and mattresses and place them in halls.
! This arrangement probably would not
/ jeopardize the life of any patient. but it
would not by any maens be Whit doc
1 tor would desire for any one under mis-
care and not what the comm dnity has
right to expect OF its publ: medical in
I stitution, he said.
| The two children's wards, one for those
under years and the other for those
between 8 and IL, have been crowded to
| the limit for many months. In addition
to demonstrating the needs for more
room at the city institution this also
! graphically illustrates the need for the
immediate erection Of the Riley Memorial
| Children's Hospital. physicians state.
SCHOOL BUILDING
| COLLAPSE ILLUSTRATES.
tangible illustration of how the hos
| pital is handicapped in times of serious
emergency by the lack of more room is
contained in what happened when the
| new Manual Training High School build
/ ing collapsed several months ago. The
surgical wards were full to OVERLOOKING
/ as usual Nine injured men were rushed
1 to the hospital. Three were able to be
removed TO their homes a short time after
they were taken to the hospital, but six
had to stay longer than twenty -four
/ hours. During these twenty four hours
the six men had to lie on temporary cots
After that three more were able TO go
/ home and room on permanent beds final
/ " was found for the three who remained.
The danger in case of a big accident
/ lies not so much in the fact that the
/ patients are put on temporary cots, as in
/ the fact that the cots can not be Kept
/ ready for instant occupation and it re-
! quires considerable time to get any num-
| Der Of them ready. said DIR. Foreman.
| In the face Of this situation a measure
which hospital authorities and> members
/ OF the board of public health say would
give relief lies dormant in the public
health committee Of the city council This
is the ordinance granting the board of
Of bonds with which to erect a nurses
home.
/ ORDINANCE RESTS
WITH COMMITTEE.
! The board Of health started making
plans for the nurses home more than a
year ago. An architect prepared detailed
/ drawings at an expense TO the city OF
approximately IS 900. The health board
asked the city legal department to pre-
pare the bond issue ordinance Then fol-
lowed a period Of several weeks in which
the legal department, the mayor and other
officials pOndered over whether or not
1t was advisable to build with material
costs so high and whether the bonds
should be on one maturity length or an
other. 1t was not until March of this
year that the ordinance finally was pre-
pared and introduced in the council II
was sent to the public health committee
and there II has rested since. 1t has not
been so much as reported out Of COM
mittee.
Mayor Jewett and members OF bis I'M
mediate official family at the ci1y '>all
say that 1t was not brought out because
of fear that the four NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
/ councilmen would vote against It, II
would require the vote of at least one of
the antis. added to that of the FIVE ad-
ministration councilmen, to pass the or
dinance. However, the ants never have
been given a chance to show what they
would do and there never has been any
public effort on the part of the mayor
to show the great need for passing the
measure and getting the nurses home
up. The council as a whole demonstrated
only Thursday that it is not opposed 10
authorizing the proper expenditure Of
public funds by voting in favor Of the
war memorial plaza project, which will
mean an addition to the bonded indebted
ness of the city Of some 100000.
PLENTY OF
ARGUMENTS.
Prominent physicians who repeatedly
have met with failure in efforts to get
patients unable to pay for admission to
a private hospital into the city hospital
without delays of several days say that
there are plenty Of convincing arguments
which the mayor might have used to in
fuence the votes OF the councilmen whom
he says are not in favor Of the nurses
home. One of the most potent reasons
medical authorities state, is that with the
eighty-eight student nurses housed in
another building at least sixty add
tional beds would be Installed in the
space in the hospital building now occu-
pied by those in training and wards ac-
eommodating at least sixty more pa
i tients would be installed In the nurses
home. Addition of 120 beds to the hos
pital facilities would not only relieve
the present congestion, but also would
leave room for the inevitable expansion
Of the next few years.
While the greatest argument In favor
Of the establishment Of the nurses home
from the standpoint Of public health is
that it would make it possible for the
city to give proper care TO its seriously
sick the fact that the nurses themselves
would be given a fit place in which to
, live is not to be overlooked.
The present quarters are entirely in
adequate, DIR. Foreman states. They are
located in what might best be described
as the attic. Very few of the rooms have
so much as one window and none has
water connections. Toilet facilities are
located in the far end of the building
The rooms are kept as clean as possible
DR.. Foreman said, but nothing under the
sun could make of them the cheerful
hOmelike place a young woman who has
to spend three years of her life there
has right to expect
LACK OF HOME KEEPS
NURSES FROM SCHOOL.
Lack Of suitable home handicaps the
hospital IN getting young women to en-
ter the training school, the superinten-
dent stated. Instead of the eighty ell ht
nurses now on duty, the institution
should have 80 to give the patients COM
plete care. The loyal eighty eight struggle
valiantly to carry the load and have