III. SOCIAL CONDITIONS 



Social conditions and their relationship — direct or indi- 

 rect — to the health conditions found present in the patients 

 referred to the Social Service Department is perhaps the most 

 vital field of research and information. Tho it is essential for 

 the medical social service worker to be sufficiently cognizant 

 of the medical condition of the patients in order to deal intelli- 

 gently with them, yet it is pre-eminently his or her work to 

 emphasize the social conditions — family, community, or in- 

 stitution — which form the background of every individual's 

 life. The two chief benefits, in supplementing the doctor's 

 care, gained by patients from the social service worker are: 

 first, the possible discovery of social conditions as a partial 

 cause of the patient's physical condition ; and, second, the im- 

 provements in these social surroundings as an asset in aiding 

 the patient's recovery and in avoiding preventable illnesses. 

 By information gathered from the patients themselves and 

 their families when possible, and by home visits for observa- 

 tion in many cases, a few details of the standard of living 

 and general social conditions existing in the homes or dwell- 

 ings of these 150 cases of crippled children have been sum- 



marized as follows: 



STANDAPvD OF LIVING— 



1. Cases where family showed intelligence 56 



2. Cases where family showed ignorance 75 



3. Cases with average family income ($2 per day) 47 



4. Cases with poor family income 73 



5. Cases with neglected home conditions 55 



6. Cases where cooperation with hospital shown 49 



7. Cases where antagonism against hospital shown 25 



8. Cases where immorality in family cited 13 



9. Cases of foreign parentage 12 



10. Negro cases 7 



This table is only approximate and not statistically exact, 

 as the available information on the subject was only general. 

 But the existing conditions included under standard of living 

 as here classified are interesting as reflecting on the cases 

 which come into the hospital and dispensary. It is perhaps 

 impossible to make a definite distinction between ignorant 

 and intelligent families — the basis for division must vary 



(27) 



