Evening star., 1928-12-02
SANATOR|UM HELD
: NEED OF CHILDREN
Bill Providing tuberculosis
Institution Is Expected to Be
Passed by Congress.

That the bill providing a sanatorium
for tubercular children in the District
of Columbia would be passed at the
coming session of Congress was the
opinion expressed yesterday by Mrs.
Ernest II. Grant, chairman of the Tu-
berculosis Children's Sanatorium Com
mittee. which is sponsoring the meas
ure introduced May ID last by Senator
Capper of Kansas and Representative
Gibson of Vermont.
Her opinion is shared by members
of the committee, which includes DR.. F.
G. Smith, assistant surgeon general OF
the United States Public Health Serv-
ice DR.. William c. Fowler, District
health, officer; DR.. j. w. Peabody,
superintendent of the tuberculosis
Hospital: DR.. George M Kober. dean
emeritus Of Georgetown University
School Of Medicine and president OF the
tuberculosis Association; George S.
Wilson. director of the Board of Public
Welfare, and DR.. Percy Hickling and
DR.. Joseph Rogers, representing the
Board Of Trade.
Need Believed Apparent.
'We believe the urgent need for i'm
mediate action is evident to every one
making a study of the problem of car
ing for tuberculous children in the Dis
trict of Columbia" Mrs. Grant de-
clared yesterday.
She set forth these needs as follows:
First, because we have no sana-
torium, nor preventorium; no place in
which to provide a 24-hour service for
our tuberculouS children. They must
wait until they become bed cases be-
fore they are eligible for hospitaliza-
Ha
Eressed to this point, So per cent of
the little patients die in hospitals. ac-
cording to the statistics from the Chill
drens Hospital covering the past five
years.
Second, because we cannot control
the spread of this infectious disease
among children SO long as we segre-
gate our tuberculouS children only five
hours day while at the special health
schools.
This, because the 130 tuberculous
children now attending the two special
health schools of the District are known
to be living in daily contact with BROTH
ers or sisters under the age Of IA who
have not yet contracted this disease.
Fourth, because of the entire num-
ber of pupils enrolled in these two
health schools In the past five years
only % per cent have received recov-
cry cards"
Camp Treatment Effective.
In this connection Mrs. Grant called
attention to the demonstration carried
on by the Washington tuberculosis
Association during the past five years
with its Summer health camp for
children showing the actual benefits to
be gained from 24-hour continuous
service.
There health program under the
supervision of DR.. j. w. Peabody of the
tuberculosis Hospital has been con-
Quoted by trained nurses and marked
progress has been made in educating the
parents of the children with the neceS-
Slty of 24-hour continuous care.
"But unfortunately" she continued,
''there are long months from September
to July, each year, when our tubercu-
loSiS children can be treated for only
five hours day as an education prob
lem, while in truth they represent one
of our gravest health problems. Under
our compulsory education laws, these
children must go to school, And under
the District of Columbia tuberculosis
exclusion law, they may not attend
school with children in normal health.
Consequently the two special health
schools were created to provide ele-
mentary education for these segregated
children.
But these schools with their FIVE
hour program, must not under any cir
cumstanceS, be accepted as a substitute
for SanatoriumS."