PAPERS OX MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 415 



care. He looked well and strong, he was young, only 

 thirty-five, and had a family whom he wished to support. 

 He didn't want charity. My recommendation that he 

 should rest and change his occupation wasn't worth any- 

 thing. We had no convalescent home to which to send 

 him, and we had no vocational school or employment 

 bureau for the handicapped, in which he could learn a 

 new trade and get adequate employment in that trade. 

 The result was that after a few months, during which 

 he followed his old trade, he was in the hospital again 

 with a broken down heart. This continued for several 

 years until his death. Such cases as this one is what 

 brought about the formation of cardiac clinics and with 

 this, when case after case such as the above were exam- 

 ined, such problems as the above were encountered re- 

 peatedly and it was found that cardiac clinics alone 

 could not do the work. All organizations and agencies 

 having to do with heart disease were needed, and above 

 all the public had to be educated so that the proper or- 

 ganizations could be formed. 



In Chicago I am better acquainted, our organization 

 is in its infancy, our needs are great : hence I shall de- 

 scribe the situation there. The Cardiac Section of the 

 Illinois Conference of Social Workers, with Miss Schoen- 

 feld as chairman, recently made a study of the heart 

 cases under care at the hospitals and dispensaries in 

 Chicago for a period of two months. Among other strik- 

 ing things it was found that out of 344 hospital cases. 

 194 of which were adults, SS were laborers, that only five 

 of this number were reported at cardiac clinics after 

 discharge from the hospital and that only eleven were 

 sent to convalescent homes. 46 out of 194 returned to the 

 hospital again broken down within this period. 



I cite this small number of cases because they demon- 

 strate better than anything I can say the needs of Chi- 

 cago for its cardiac sufferers. 



We have in Chicago at this time seven or more cardiac 

 clinics for adults and children — some excellently 

 equipped, some not so completely. The first need of any 

 special clinic, especially a cardiac clinic, is an adequate 

 social service department. In order to do anything with 



