The Wilmington morning star., 1940-07-03
HOSPITALS PLEAS
TO BE CONSIDERED
CONTINUED from Page One)

cause there was no room.
DIR. Donald B. Koonce termed
the hospital facilities entirely IN
adequate and said that patients
from surrounding territory from
whom we doctors get much OF our
income are going to other cities
because there is no room at the
hospital here"
There is not enough room for
private patients at times at the
hospital, he said, and they are
pushed frequently into charity
wards, making them overcrowded.
Operating room facilities, ne
said, are inadequate. pointing out
that I'VE do more operating in one
operating room here than they do
in three operating rooms in the
Medical Center in New York"
Forced to Wait
He cited cases in which charity
patients would come to the hospl-
tai one night for an operation the
next morning, and then because Of
the rush of operating, would be
forced to wait until 8 or 10 o'clock
the next night before undergoing
their operation.
Asked by Harry Gardner, coun-
ty commissioner, what percentage
of patients at the hospital come
from counties outside of New Han
over, DR.. Koonce sale. no charity
patients, except emergency cases.
are accepted from outside tn e
county but said that approximately
20 percent of the private patients
are from outside New Hanover
county.
I'VE are interested in New Han
over county and its INDECENT sick,
not in the outside countless" Gard
ner said. You spoke of charity
patients waiting for operations. My
understanding of the matter was
that MI. Walker dounder of the
institution intended that charity
patients should come first"
DR.. Koonce explained that emer-
gency cases are always treated
first, whether charity or pay pa
tients, but after that charity pa
tients must take their turn"
McCaig interrupted at this time
to point out that despite the fact
the city and county appropriate
$50, 900 together annually for op-
Grafton of the hospital, that amount
does not pay for the charity ser.
vices rendered INDECENT patients
from New Hanover county.
AS a result, he said, the hospi-
tai is forced to charge pay pa
tients enormous rates.
eve Soak You"
I'VE soak you (private patients)
and soak you plenty" he said,
adding that it is necessary in order
for the hospital to make its income
meet it's financial needs.
Approximately IS per cent of the
gross receipts, he said, comes
from pay patients while so per
cent of the cases treated are char
ity cases.
T. M. Darden, a member of the
board, also pointed to 'inadequa.
cies"
George W. Trask, county com
vored the request of the hospital
board If it doesn't raise the tax
rate"
DR.. Graham B. Barefoot told Of
inadequacies of the X-ray depart
ment (Which is privately operated)
and pointed out that hospital in
surance is increasing hospitaliza
ton daily, saying the commission
ers should look ten years ahead
to the needs of the hospital.
DR.. j.. F. Robertson told of the
need for additional facilities in Ma
rion sprunt annex maternity sec.
ton of the hospitaD telling Of see
ing q babies in one small nursery.
"If the board of health man had
been there he would have raised
cain," he said.
Gardner, remarking that the mat
ter is a budget item which will have
to be worked out between the city
and the county commissioners after
they have an idea of the size OF
their budgets and their possible in.
| come, moved the matter be laken
under consideration. The motion
| passed.
The Community hospital then had
it's case presented, also by McCaig.
Last year the hospital operated
on a budget of $40, 709 of which the
city and county appropriated a total
Of $500. This year the hospital asks
that the city and county raise their
appropriation to a total of $4,000 to
allow the hospital an operating bud
get of $27,0O The hospital is now
operating at near capacity, it was
pointed out, and is operating at a
point of efficiency greater than al
most any other hospital of its type.
10 Cents A Meal
Patients are being fed there at
a cost of 10 cents a meal. The
resident physician receives but 5000
a veal and meals and other items
are in line with those figures, Nc
Caig pointed out.
Addison Hewlett, chairman Of the
county board of commissioners,
pointed out there was no capital
outlay item in the budget as pre-
scented and McCaig replied that
whereas a "mixup" had caused the
expenditure of all funds in COM
pleting the nurses home at the hos
pital without plumbing fixtures and