The Bismarck tribune., 1924-02-11
VETERANS OF
NORTHWEST IN
HOSPITAL NEED
Legion Officer, Investigating
i'm North Dakota, Other
States, Reports
CAPACITY LACKING
The Construction of Hospital
For 1uberculars Held
Pressing Need

Increased hospital facilities are
needed in North and South Dakota.
Montana and Minnesota for veterans
Of the World War suffering from
tubercuIur and mental ills, it is de-
rlarvd in II report made by w. L.
krotl, representative of the Amer
lean Lcgiou for the district in CO.
operating with the Veterans Bureau
and guar,nng the welfare of the
service mem Mr.. kroll, formerly
was an officer Of the American lie
gion of North Dakota with head
Quurtcrs in Fargo. Mr.. kroll was
here in his Investigation.
"Our minimum needs for the pres
cnt and immediate future are" he
says, 81. Increasing the \. p. hos
pitaI now under construction at st.
Cloud, Minnesota, to capacity of
800 beds >. The immediate con-
struction Of hospital or hospitals
to furnish 800 r. BIS with modern
sanataria treatment and case.
There are approximately 1000
cx-servicc men in this district suf-
fcring from those diseases elias sifieu
rs Ncuro rsychiatric, and who are
classified as mental cases, and APP
proximately 1000 others suffering
from other nervous disorders" he
continued "Of the 1000 first men
toned 200 are bcneficiarics Of the
Bureau Ninety men are hosptalized
in Veterans Bureau hospitals in this
district under very unsatisfactory
conditions. One hundred and fifty
nine are hospitalized in three state
insane hospitals, and with the eX-
ccptions of 10, the conditions under
which the Bureau cases for these
men are terrible. One hundred and
twenty-eight men are beng cared
CG in different hospitals outside
District Teb. These figures are from.
the Bureau report on hospital pop
uIation dated January 10, 1924 and
show that the Bureau is caring for
BIT demented ex-service men, which
will more than fill the new hospital
at st. Cloud.
"In addition there are about $50
men declared incompetent by the
Bureau, who are cared for by guard
ians, to whom the bureau is paying a
total rating of compensation, and
who are in dire need of hospital
care, and who will be hospitalized
us soon as relatives and guardians
are assured that proper institution
has been Provided
The Veterans Bureau, he saws, is
cndeavorng to vocationally rehabil-
tntn nhA
tails of Montana, Minnesota and
South Dakota but the results are
discouraging, and as they become
more despondcnt there will be great
cr need for hospital care.
The total number of cX-service
men who are tubcrculars in the dis
tlict composed of North and South
Dakota, Minnesota and Montana is
Approximately $500, Kroll declared.
There is need for hos pitalization
within the district of 1876 men, he
said. Many men, he said, would not
accept treatment offered in hospi-
tails in other parts Of the country far
remote from their homes, and conse-
quently to secure best results he
feels there is need for added tuber-
cular hospital facilities within the
district.
THE hospitals in Washington,
California, Arizona, New Mexico, and
North Carolina where great num-
ber Of Northwest tuberculars are
hospitaliZed, are too far removed
from the mans home to keep him in
4 satisfied state of mind which is so
essential to his recovery from tu-
berculosis," said Mr.. kroll. "In this
district. very few men, if any, are
given sanitarium care by the govern
ment for reasonable period of time
after they have reached the appar-
emily arrested stage but are con-
tinually being sent out to their homes
and put into training many months
before the danger period Of a reoc-
curence has passed. The conditions
under which tuberculars are hospi-
talized in this district at the pres
ent time are quite serious and hun
dreds of these men will die if care
other than that which they are re-
ceiving now is not given immedi-