Evening star., 1940-05-05
Hospital Unit to Be Dedicated
At District raining School
Mrs. Roosevelt to speok Tuesday,
Hear of Needs Still Unmet

Hear OF Needs Still
Exercises dedicating the new hos
pital unit at the District Training
School on Tuesday will mark the
end Of one longtime struggle and
the beginning of another.
Mrs. Roosevelt will speak at the
dedication of the new unit. She will
tour the building. which will cut to
a minimum the chance Of epidemics.
She will be told that before the
hospital was built, it was virtually
impossible to separate the healthy
from the sick.
But she will also be told that the
institution Is still harassed by unmet
needs-chiefiy the need for more
buildings, dormitories to house $50
known feeble minded children Of
Washington, the waiting list of the
training school at Laurel, Md.
Here Is the problem. as DR.. James
Lewald, superintendent of the insti-
tuition, said yesterday he would pre-
sent it to Mrs. Roosevelt:
Helpless Cases on List.
The $50 children on the waiting
list are helpless ones. ones who can
be led into trouble. Some Of them
could be trained to find place for
themselves In society, but the Dis
trict Training School is already over
crowded. 1t must give first choice
to idiots and imbeciles.
AS an example. the institution
made room for 10 new cases the
other day. OF the 10, 3 were idiots,
imbeciles and only 3. Of moron
level. Those three may have epi-
lepsy or organic diseases which
would make 1t impossible for them
ever to be sent into society again
And now, unless an inmate dies or
is paroled-and only 10 have been
paroled in the last year-not even
the idiots and imbeciles will be
admitted to the institution until
next January, when two new dor
mitory units, each housing so pa
| tients. are completed. The hospi-
tal unit made it possible to take
, in 10 children.
All Feeble Minded.
The $50 children and young peo-
pie on the waiting list have all
been examined by Gallinger Hos
pital physicians and certified as
being feeble minded. Each one Of
them. because of his or her be-
havior or helpless condition, has
been brought to the attention Of
the physicians Welfare oAhcials
didn't 60 out looking for them;
they didn't have to.
Some of the $50 are wards of the
Board of Public Welfare-commit-
ted by the Juvenile Court to the
board as delinquent or destitute
Of a suitable home. Others have
been examined at the request of
parents who are helpless to take
care of them. Others are sent
over from Police Court after ap-
pearing before Judge on some
misdemeanor. They are sent to GAL
linger for examination from the
public assistance division by IN
structive Visiting Nurses, by public
nealCn nurses.
In each case, before they are Ger
tilted, they have done something
that makes at least an examina-
ton to determine their sanity nee
essary. A large number of them
have followed the same course
playing truant from school be-
cause they haven't the mentality to
keep up with their work and are
ashamed to admit it, getting into
trouble, appearing before the Ju-
venile Court. One boy on the wait
ing list had two charges of taking
property and four housebreaking
charges when he was committed.
More Children Born.
But the greatest danger, in the
opinion of some welfare officials,
is the fact that they are bringing
more feeble minded children into
the world.
On the waiting list is a girl who
already has had four illegitimate
children. One child is now in the
training school, and the other three
are permanent wards Of the Board
of Public Welfare, permanent bur-
dens on the taxpayers. Feeble
minded mothers can't take care Of
their children.
Another girl who was certified
some time ago has become pregnant
since being put on the waiting list.
They are simply repeating what
has already been found true. In
the District Training School now
are mother and four children. all
sent there on the same day. The
nth child is ward of the Welfare
Board.
Another mother now in the in
stitution had eight children, all Of
whom are now in institutions for
the feeble-minded or wards of the
board. One of the daughters has
just had her third illegitimate child.
The two yougest girls both have had
1llegltimate children. The 16-year-
old daughters child died but the
14-year-old daughters child has be-
come ward of the board.
Money Badly Needed.
Knowing, then, that the girls on
the waiting list are menacing the
future generation as well as the
present, the Board Of Public We'll
fare can do nothing about it. More
money, great deal more money Is
needed to expand the institution,
to make room for those $50, but it
Just isn't forthcoming.
The overcrowded institution faces
another problem for lack of suficient
dormitory units. Mrs. Roosevelt,
who was shocked at Blue Plains to
find young people housed with the
senile, will find small boys living in
the same dormitory unit as men Of
40 and so years.