10 



Indiana University Studies 



to pass the time. This Department has been fortunate so far in 

 not having to deal with many such cases, but this is a possibility 

 that must be faced. 



CASE MRS. P. If every patient had the adaptability of one 

 foreign woman known to the Department, no alarm would ever 

 be necessary because of idleness. She had been a hard working 

 woman before her break when she was sent to the hospital. The 

 four years on this side of the ocean had been spent in lifting 

 heavy buckets in a meat packing establishment. She lay at the 

 point of death for six weeks in the hospital, but finally started 

 to grow better. Then she was taken to her home before the doc- 

 tors thought it safe for her to go. She was told not to work. 

 She did not spend her time thinking of how strong she once was, 

 but took up crocheting. When the visitor asked her if she was 

 careful and did not work, she cheerfully answered as she took a 

 few more stitches, ''This my work now, me do nothing else." 



So far no account has been taken of the cost of visits made by 

 patients to the dispensary or of stays in the hospital. According 

 to the Report of Committees on Out-Patient Work for the Boston 

 Dispensary, 30 dispensaries estimated the cost per visit from 10 

 cents to 75 cents. Taking the average, it may be said that each 

 visit costs about 40 cents. This must be paid in some way. If the 

 patient cannot pay, and the majority of patients are unable to pay 

 even 10 cents, the community must pay. This it does either by 

 appropriation or private donations. Considering the fact that 

 some heart patients attend the dispensary at least twice a month 

 for several years, what seemed to be little to start with soon 

 amounts to a large sum. In case a home investigation is made, 

 and it always should be made on a dispensary patient, the expense 

 of the visit is added. The nurse who goes to give practical lessons 

 in hygiene and the district doctor, who may be called at any time 

 should the patient become critically ill, must be paid for their 

 services. 



Treatment in the hospital is more expensive yet for the time, 

 but does not last so long. From the records of the 61 hospital 

 patients dealt with by this Department, the shortest time spent 

 in the hospital by any of them was 1 day and the longest 420 

 days. Talk of conservation of energy and money! Consider the 

 fact that more than half of these patients would never have 

 entered the hospital had there been more definite means of follow- 

 ing them from the dispensary or even in their places of work 



