The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1943-02-26


week, and the committee disc
cizes many of the conditions
Of the personnel with being re
sponsible, placing the blame
rather on insufficient funds
appropriated to meet the needs
Of the institution, the delay in
construction of necessary new
buildings caused by the war
emergency and an apparent di-
vision of directing authority.
Building Poor
The committee, while stating that
there are several large, brick dormi-
tories at the hospital nevertheless
finds "the place generally reminds one
of an old, run down ranch, with build
ings of all sizes and types stuck here
and there, according to the notion and
need of the particular builder at time
of construction" The report declares
that the barns are hardly more than
sheds" and that the cows numbering
approximately $50 which are MIXED
by hand, are housed in a weather
beaten barn through which the winds
blow, but into which little sunshine
finds it's way. The hog sheds and
chicken houses are also found to be
lacking in necessary requirements.
Several wooden buildings most of
hon, txxr0 ctn h oh
mitories are said to be virtual fire
traps for the patients housed within"
The over-crowding is stressed and as
one instance, the report cites Cottage
A, one of the old buildings in which
is housed "58 women patients, with
beds crowded almost as close as they
will stand, upstairs and down. And
for the So patients there is one old
fashioned bathtub downstairs" Cot
tage B, about the same size as Cot
tage A, according to the report houses.
81 women patients with zone bathtub
downstairs, and only three toilets for
the two floors Similar conditions
were reported to exist in Cottage F
where the worst women cases are
housed. Another dormitory is of
brick veneer construction and it is as
much a fire trap as the others
named
Equipment
Reporting on the equipment, the
committee has the following to say:
1.-THE equipment is antiquated all
through the institution. Much of the
plumbing dates back to an early age.
The problem of heating is difficult
from the central heating plant, be-
cause Of the poor arrangement of the
ton of some. The kitchen and bak-
cry display the worst shortcomings of
all in equipment Here the work
must go on regardless. And the i'm
plements are old style and crude be-
yond belief. There is no mechanical
perhaps at the hospital ward. Ice is
used in summer for such cooling as
can be maintained by this method.
The cooking is done largely by steam
with the food placed in large metal |
cauldrons for this purpose. And for
baking bread, the institution makes |
use of old brick ovens, built 40 years |
ago and still fired with wood. These |
ovens must be kept going almost con-
stantly to turn out the 1000 loaves of |
bread a day the institution requires, |
so that it is seldom they can be used |
ro,. otbo, fooJc+,,ffc No, erp,Ixri,,or /
The dining rooms each mealtime, the /
food is placed in open metal contain
srs OF some Is gallons capacity and |
through long tunnels to the
various buildings, each of which has |
It's own dining room. These contain
srs naturally get hard treatment but,
being made of heavy metal, they hold
he heat well, and deliver it IN fair
condition to the plates on the dining
,ables."
The Food
The committee found the food
served to the patients palatable ana
apparently ample, and gives Mrs.
Wolfe. the dietician credit for this,
IND the report STATES tudI SFCl yIHih6
S kept clean despite the antiquated
equipment In the hospital ward, 1t
vas found that pains are taken TO
provide each patient with the special
God he needs"
The committee pulls no punches
n its criticism in the report OF the
and on which the hospital is located,
tating that it is nothing more than
IN alkali flat, with the waterlevel
10 high that Easements are almost
tut of the question:" and that where {
here are Easements, there is a con- {
tant seepage of water so alkaline
hat the cement soon goes to pieces. '
t states that "of the 1852 acres in {
he farm project, only 20 to 80 acres {
re at all tillable."
Mat We Have
Following the criticism of the land
he report states:
"Given such farm, such soil on
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