with the field day entertainment that for 27 years the field day exercises have been held on the hospital grounds without postponement on account of weather conditions or other interference, and that on every occasion during this long period Mr. William H. Hecox, now one of the managers of the hospital, has been present as one of the judges of the events. There are at the present time 68 employees of the hospital in the federal military service; six members of the medical staff have received commissions during the past year, one of whom is now in France and the remaining five are in training camps in the United States. During the past six months the officers and employees of the hospital have subscribed $26,000 to the third Liberty Loan, and more than $6000 for the purchase of War Savings Stamps; they have contributed $1072 to the Red Cross, and $130 to the Navy League. -Brooklyn State Hospital, Brooklyn.-In October, 1917, the State Hospital Commission held its annual meeting with the members of the Board of Managers at the hospital, and in November of the same year the State Hospital Development Commission visited the institution, the recommendations concerning which will be found in the report of the Commission to the legislature of 1918. Clinics were held by Dr. Eastman, of the Long Island College Hospital, and Dr. Elliott, Superintendent of the Willard State Hospital, delivered a number of lectures on mental disease, at the hospital, for the benefit of the medical class of the Long Island College Hospital. On May 15, 1918, the quarterly conference of the Commission and managers with the superintendents of the various state hospitals was held at the hospital. The meeting was well attended and the following program was rendered: FORENOON, 10.30 A. M. I. Address of Welcome ...Hon. Hugo Hirsh. 2. Proposed Plans for the Completion of the Brooklyn State Hos 1. The Future Work of the Psychiatric Institute....Dr. George H. Kirby. 2. Constitutional Types of Reaction in Cases of Syphilis of the .....Dr. Erving Holley. Nervous System ... 3. Responsibilities of the State Hospitals in the Treatment of Neurosyphilis in Both its Latent and Active Forms. . Dr. Clarence O. Cheney. 4. Remissions in Cases of Paresis and the Subsequent History of Paretics Discharged from State Hospitals....Dr. Frank R. Haviland. 5. An Experiment in the Feeding and Management of Patients in a Disturbed Ward .Dr. R. C. Woodman. 6. Reports of Committees. EVENING, 8.00 P. M. 1. A Critique of Some Endocrinopathies... .Dr. Walter Timme. .Dr. Horatio M. Pollock. .Dr. Joseph Smith. The State Hospital Development Commission in its report to the legislature of 1918, speaks of the excessive overcrowding of the Brooklyn State Hospital, and recommends that the institution at Brooklyn be developed to accommodate 2100 patients; that the old buildings should be demolished as new ones may be erected to take their places; that the old buildings are unworthy of repair. The Commission also advises the construction of a new state hospital at Creedmoor to accommodate 3000 patients; that the Creedmoor Hospital be a department of the Brooklyn State Hospital under the same superintendent in order that the country department may be made adjunct to the city department and so secure for the patients and their friends a maximum of advantage and convenience. An appropriation of $30,000 was made by the legislature of 1918 for the commencement of a sewage disposal plant at the Creedmoor site. Plans and specifications for the construction of this plant have been completed and advertisements for bids on the same will be published this month. The Reception Hospital and new buildings for chronic patients, west, at the Brooklyn site, are practically completed. The Reception will accommodate 150 patients. The chronic building west has been named by the Board of Managers, Whitman Hall. This building will accommodate 400 patients. The work on these buildings has been greatly delayed because of the failure of the contractors and inability to obtain material and labor. During the past year, construction was begun on dining rooms for Whitman Hall, and a new building on the east side of Reception Hospital, which is practically a duplicate of Whitman Hall. Also a new laundry building has been started. The repairs of the cottages at Creedmoor have progressed quite slowly but it is expected to place about 150 patients in this colony during the fall months. General repairs have been made at the Brooklyn site and new floors have been laid in a number of the wards. The employees of the hospital have been very much interested in Red Cross work. An auxiliary chapter was organized by the employees of the hospital. A large quantity of dressings was made and a number of sweaters, helmets, wristlets, socks, etc., were knitted. A number of dances were given during the year for the Red Cross, which has made possible the donation of quite a sum of money, and also to have remaining on hand sufficient to purchase a quantity of wool and materials for gauze dressings, etc. During the Liberty Loan Campaigns the sum of over $10,000 was subscribed for by the employees. It has been very difficult to secure hospital help during the past year, and it has been necessary to employ patients who have been paroled to their own custody. -Central Islip State Hospital, Central Islip.-The legislature of 1917 authorized the construction of a centralization power plant. The contractors began work upon this in November, 1917, and have made satisfactory progress. The chimney, 150 feet in height, has been completed, the iron frame work is in place and the brickwork is being laid about it. An extension to the laundry, which was authorized at the same time, has been completed, the machinery having been installed and connected. The State Hospital Development Commission has outlined the future development of this hospital which is to have a capacity of 5200 patients. The present certified capacity is 4100 with a census of 5485. Two hundred thousand dollars were appropriated for a reception building for acute cases to accommodate 75 men and 75 women. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars were also appropriated for a building for chronic cases. Owing to the continuance of the war, suitable contracts could not be made for the erection of these. The hospital staff has been seriously depleted by reason of enlistments in the medical corps, a total of seven now being absent in military service. In addition, seventy-two (72) hospital employees are in the military service. -Dannemora State Hospital, Dannemora.-Eleven employees have either enlisted or have been drafted for service in the army. Of this number one has since died at Camp Gordon. Two attendants have enlisted in the British Army; one has been killed in action and the other severely wounded. A training class for male nurses was instituted February 15, 1918, with nine members. The results from this class are already beginning to be appreciated in increased efficiency in the care of patients. A corridor with six rooms adjoining has been remodeled by removing the walls, making a ward for tubercular patients. This ward is so located that light and ventilation are exceptionally good. During the day it is practically a sun room. A reclassification of the patients throughout the institution has been made with a resulting improvement in sanitary conditions. Construction is being continued on a new wing to accommodate 100 patients. An old shop building is being remodeled for use as an attendants' cottage. A knitting machine has been added to the industries, and the results obtained are gratifying. Dementia præcox cases are being re-educated along the lines of useful labor, and they assist materially in the construction work that is going on; in reclaiming land, and in working on the farm and other industries connected with the hospital. -Gowanda State Homeopathic Hospital, Gowanda.-The new pathological laboratory and mortuary is nearing completion. An addition has been built on the east side of the power house and a new feed-water heater is being installed. A new garage has been built to replace the one burned last year. A concrete ramp was constructed at the old dairy barn to replace the stone structure and new James Way stanchions are installed in this barn. Cement feeding platforms have been constructed in connection with the new hog ranges, near the piggery and slaughter house. These ranges are from one to two acres in size, each having separate colony houses and shelters. Many wards and the corridors of the Administration Building have been redecorated. -Manhattan State Hospital, Wards Island.-Since the war, the strain upon Manhattan, serving the largest district for the insane in the country, has steadil increased. It is enormously overcrowded, due to the large admission rate and inadequate accommodation. The suspension of immigration, which in normal times supplied the hospital requirements for administrative help, and the halt in the deportation of alien patients, have aggravated conditions. Patients from training camps add to the number and work of the hospital. The exacting duties of a great hospital, never light, bear more heavily every day upon those remaining. Suitable attendants cannot be procured. The military draft and alluring wages offered by munition plants, have left available only physical and mental decrepits, many of them unfit to be harbored in a state hospital. Those left have responded to the demands of the service with increased efficiency and self-denial. Some of the staff are away doing their part in the mighty struggle. The service flag proudly shows 103 stars for men at the front, but demands are larger than ever, with every ward crowded. With the falling off in habitual alertness, an increase in the number of accidents and elopements might be expected; but the greater liberty allowed lessened care of locked doors, and the rôle of attendant essayed by some of the patients, have not resulted in any increase in the number of either elopements or accidents. Two patients about to be discharged, growing impatient, yielded to the opportunities afforded by lightly guarded doors, and left without the customary benison. The prevailing influenza has not obtained a footing in the hospital, thanks to the excellent sanitary conditions, plenty of food and sleep, and open air exercise. The extra-mural hospital activities, such as community problems and outside clinics, have not abated a jot. Staff meetings are regularly attended by commissioned officers of the army and navy medical reserve, and by several young ladies of the Y. M. C. A., who are taking intensive instruction in psychiatry for over-sea service. Clinics are also held almost daily by members of the staff and institute. Dr. E. F. Walsh, the erudite medical lecturer, delivered a most entertaining and instructive address to the nursing staff on Friday evening, September 13, on the subject of "Nursing, Past and Present," with felicitations. A naval hospital to accommodate about 1000 patients is in process of construction at the southeastern end of the Island. It will occupy about 20 acres. Closely adjacent, a dock has been built to afford transportation to the hospital. The patients will probably be conveyed by means of tenders, direct from transports to the Island. It is believed that the hospital will be built on the cottage plan. There will be a central group of three buildings of an operating pavilion, administrative offices, kitchen, dining-rooms, etc., grouped about this central unit, 25 "H" plan ward buildings will be erected. Each ward building will probably contain about eight separate wards; the buildings for the most part will be of two stories, and used as a general hospital. -Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital, Middletown.-The second section of the piggery, for which an appropriation of $2500 was made last year, has been completed. With some material left from the piggery building, and with some old brick and tile, it has been possible to build a fattening pen, 35 x 48 feet. During the winter the hospital received an additional appropriation of $20,000 for the construction of the tuberculosis pavilion, $10,000 for a dairy barn and silos, and $9500 for a cottage to accommodate 30 patients at the Comfort Farm. Ground for the tuberculosis pavilion was broken on the 27th day of February, and at this time the building is practically completed. The dairy barn and silos are underway, but no start has been made on the cottage at Comfort Farm. The old power plant is being converted into a mechanical shop, but because of delay in securing material, the work is progressing slowly. -Mohansic State Hospital, Yorktown.-Governor Whitman has signed a bill for the protection of the Croton watershed in which this institution is situated. It will therefore be necessary to locate it elsewhere. -Rochester State Hospital, Rochester.-The additions to the men's building have been completed and allow an additional accommodation of 36 cases. Forty-seven employees have entered the army or navy, one of whom, Joseph P. Rooney, was killed in France. -St. Lawrence State Hospital, Ogdensburg.—A total of 42 officers and employees of the hospital are now in the service of the United States Army. |