The duties of the almoner (memorandum)
1901-10-25 1901 1900s 5 pages Class II. - Those in which other conditions are required for adequate treatment. I should like to take in point hopeful cases of Tuberculosis. Can it be disputed that an Out-Patients' Department is not a place for these? Not only is it not the place, but it is...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
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25 October 1901
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/F87C733F-A128-4EE9-8F0F-1DB0AFF14980 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/8C885366-200A-491B-BFD1-AFAE53782117 |
| Summary: | 1901-10-25
1901
1900s
5 pages
Class II. - Those in which other conditions are required for adequate treatment. I should like to take in point hopeful cases of Tuberculosis. Can it be disputed that an Out-Patients' Department is not a place for these? Not only is it not the place, but it is really harmful, and if there is a possibility of preventing it, has the Hospital any right to countenance their attendance there? At present it would be quite impossible to help half those cases, but I do not hesitate to say, that where one of incipient phthisis comes to my notice, I should feel myself criminally responsible, did I not do my utmost to give it a chance of cure. General Hospital treatment is quite inadequate for this and the Medical Staff could not wish to keep them. They are nearly always ignorant of their condition, and have a beautiful, but blind, faith that the Hospital treatment will set them on their legs again. They gradually run out of their Clubs, if they have any. The wife has to become the bread-winner. There is less and less coming in to be able to procure them the nourishment they so much need, and they slowly get worse, to leave their children as their only inheritance the inevitable seeds of this awful disease. I should much like the Board to see one man who responded to three months' Open Air Treatment. He is a Vestry labourer in Grosvenor Place, and his beaming face, and gratitude for what was done for him by the Hospital, is worth listening to. Except in advice, the Hospital gave nothing. A visit to the home showed clearly the conditions were impossible for cure, and the machinery of willing outside charity was set in motion. The result is, this man has learned the exact value of fresh air and cleanliness. He went away hopeless and despairing. He returned with his health, and knows now how he must live to preserve it, and is teaching his wife the same. They have three healthy rooms instead of two close and dark ones, and the whole family have benefited by the
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |