Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-06

Inc StretCner episode at once SuS-
gested the idea that other supplies
could be sold n rented. Gradually
as funds were available the bureau
built up a stock of medical and sur
gical articles.
A nurse came in another day and
inquired whether any one knew
where work could be obtained. The
bureau had come to know a num-
Der of physicians, and the name of
Il doctor who needed a nurse was re-
called. That was before nurses reg
~istries were customary. Mrs. Willard
thought over the nurses visit and
started keeping a list of nurses and
records of when each one was avail
able for a case.
Other side lines were added as the
demand for them was seen. Food
for the sick, however, has always
been the main specially of the bu-
Ireau..
Success in preparing foods for in
valids is largely a matter of SIM
plicity. Spices, condiments and COM
plicated recipes must be avoided, yet
the dish must be appealing. Often
the individual feature of a case
must be known. One patient may
not be able to take food containing
salt, while another is not able to
eat a certain very ordinary vege-
table. Hotel chefs and other cooks
do not often understand these limi-
tations and demands. Their cook
ing is either not simple enough, or
it tastes fiat and does not appeal to
the patient.
C,NoofoI LtOodp gVOnIrod IN nr1np
Because each case of illness pre-
sents its own peculiarities, and be-
cause so wide a variety of orders
comes in, few cooked dishes are kept
on hand at the bureau. The refrig-
orators in the white tiled kitchen
contain only calf's foot and orange
jelly, custard, and buildings. Beef,
mutton and chicken broth, are also
kept ready for use. Other foods are
prepared to order, because they are
called for irregularly and the re-
quirements in the orders vary. A
doctor may tell a patient to eat
spinach put through a sieve, or a
special kind of bran food, different
in some one respect from the recipe
generally used.
Mrs. Willard says that she never
prescribes, nor makes anything on
a vague guess. A request had just
come in for diabetic ice cream.
Il don't know what that means
she told the customer. ice cream
might be made in a dozen ways for
that many different diabetic patients.
We must have exact directions for
unusual kinds of food"
There are fads in food for invalids
just as in other kinds of diet, the
Home Bureau has found. Al one
time broth was the accepted food
for typhoid patients; then came a
period when milk was generally per-
scribed; now both are used Steriliz-
ed milk for sick people and babies
was a popular demand of a few years
back. Now modified milk, and other
kinds which retain the vitamines of
the raw milk are the thing.
Even beef tea is different from
what it used to be. Mrs. Wizards
mother commented once hat the
bureaus beef tea did not taste like
the tea of her day. The proper way
of making beef tea then had been to
steam it. But out of the gallons of
beef tea which have been ordered
in the course of the bureaus exist
ence only two orders for steamed
tea have ever come in. The usual
method of preparing the tea now is
to boil it slowly. This is said to
eliminate properties of uric acid
which may remain in the steamed
tea.
Whatever the dietetic craze, or the
peculiar demand for service for the
sick. Mrs. Willard fills the order
without surprise. Her customers
have included a great singer, a little
dog with stomach trouble, babies
that would not eat, and bankers with
the govt.
1T is a difficult business to be in,
In a way" she explains. People
who come to us have sickness at
home, and they want to tell us their
troubles. That is sometimes depress-
ing. But 1t is a ~life-saving business.
That makes 1t worth while"