Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-16
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
Home, Sweet, Sweet Home--There's>
No Place Like Il When You're Well
and II lent Hall Bad When You're
Sick Enough for a Hospital
BY SARAH ID. LOwRIE
7 HAD occasion not long since to visit

BY SARAH ID. LOwRIE
7 HAD occasion not long since TO visit one
i of my kith and kin in the private ward of
hospital. The corridors leading to tne
room were stately and spectncularly hygiene
and the elevator was prompt and the nurses
were crisp and businesslike. The patients
room left nothing to be desired in the way
Of light and possibilities Of air and the solid
practicnblity of the furnishings Every
thing looked antiseptic, from the bed TO the
salt cellar on the supper tray. | feel sure
not germ could live to reach the room, or
If 1t grew IN the patient IL could not subsist
outside of him for second. for from the
entrance of the hospital to that third. hoor
bedside the air was heavy with something
that smelt like cabbage and was, they as
sured me, the ordinary hospital odor of dis
intcctant. There were no surgical cases
on one Of the floors and no fever cases on
another and there were strictly nervous
cases on still another, but the whole great
building was saturated with that dull, pcnc-
trating atmosphere.
The patient in whom ] was interested
is placid soul and has n mind that Is
used to providing him with thoughts and
problems of an unworrying and occupying
nature, but he complained of the dullness
OF his experience and was, | thought, singu-
larly depressed for person of his equablc
temperament. He was not actually i'll he
was there for the convenience Of the doctors.
who were examining him constitutionally for
the possible root OF n recurrent malady they
we're proceeding about their tests and ex-
aminations in no particular hurry TO be
through and with much else of more i'm
portancc on their minds and a kind of genial
vaguencSs as 10 results, one way or an.
other, TO us inquiring relatives.
THERE is no doubt in the world that
l. hospitals are Of first Importance to the
nhysiCiYug there
Is no doubt that for very i'll persons and
for very poor persons hospitals are great
godsends. And there is no doubt that
for the majority of cases that are treated
IN hospitals patients are better off than at
home. And it is also true that rules have
to be made for the majority even though
minority suffers.
But with the present knowledge of anti
Scptics, with the prevalence of electricity in
most private houses, with the skill Of the
trained nurse and the whole hygienc dis
cipline of modern bedroom and bathroom.
with the telephone for quick consultation
and with the motor for quick response to
sudden calls, the nursing Of n patient in his
home is simpler than the nursing Of him
in hospital was fifteen years ago.
To convalesce in ones own agreeable
rooms, to gradually come back to life with
the strict regime Of the first weeks little
by little simplifed into normality, to have
sick diet and trays of ones own familiar
and attractive sort, to have no going and
coming or gossip of other sick folk and TO
be spared the weekly board and room bill !
among the other items of ones budget. all !
these, If they are not counteractcd by some
deterrent influence, shorten the dreariness |
oil Grtting back to health enormously.
While for the patients family the differ
cnce between the wear and tear of keeping !
constant oversight of his welfare in q hos |
pltal ana in the sunny third floor front at |
7 CAN hear some ono say: What about |
i the servants? What about having trained
nurses around: What about keeping the
patient Within bounds?"
Well a, far Gg tho servants 90. on1 rho |
matter Of The diet and Of the travs and Of
tho cleaning and rlrryinn those r,uqt bo
arranged svstcmntinnliv and understood mil
provided for--uossiiIy ms nm extra II viii
not cost anything like So ni!cl extra az tho
So far nS tho misc is ronrcrrcI sIc +.
only. WHY mike Lcr ~ nIrnhcr r pf''t%o Of t%c
family or include h"'? She does not want
tn" society Of the family or their friends ii
She is the right sort. She las her own fam
lily and her own outside interests and would
be better when freed from her patient to
get into another atmosphere out Of the
house. Her tray can be as we'll arranged
and as tempting as the nvalid's, and her
goingS and comings can he so inconspicuous
that her presence IN the house outside the
sick room need scarcely count.
GONE ONE NAV say; .'.All rL;s is simDle
y to .av brt NOT si,rr,o p, oorr, ort :,
won ti;o ouc oo,, n hn'o , l." r"tiS ro "",,
j., tho o,,so ;itI orr ~ rr,,n ,o tit
iti t't "o"9v "tsN I 'a "Gt'ou9 P%a.ent
vi WI" oho,,t w. ,oois S He,P "o"Su HhoT
I'' ha,." "i, @ .no, ""u , tnu n oe' .mno"'
tba othn;S, noio 'IT ,j,,oa ,o ""u
n1 .,i ~ ,n'c, "''u Tu,'
.ho,'ni a, , t"' no' arun n,r,
ti Pass W. " ooIiS 1 ot ner ro'iis nany
'iIi,TS ,InoG G"! n5 w., ute. A. nety GnreanS
dmI T '1,n n ,ot 'Nreesr' . 49,,
enu i NV p',o"''S. tTM"lu lpCoN''S po'.,t
n,i,.f,! t a'i 1 'm "nc Sese @ @ ,r
'ooaoi ,iorn no .',,ta 'o,'so "'t t ~ e'
NahulSn or oi IfA!cE or ol anything out oI
" VIM, Wv ~ iT'''',S - 't' So W., .