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| Grip's 1899 photo of Cortland Hospital on North Main Street. |
Cortland
Evening Standard, Wednesday, October 14, 1896.
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CORTLAND HOSPITAL.
Annual Report of the Secretary and Treasurer.
To the President and Members of The Cortland
Hospital Association and Citizens of Cortland:
In
presenting to you the report of the hospital to-day we have to record the work
of the past eight months only, or since Feb. 1, the hospital year having previously
begun in February. At a special meeting of the association held July 6 the
clause of the constitution relating to the time of holding the annual meeting
was revised, changing, for convenience, the time of that meeting from the first
Monday of February to the first Monday of October, hence the shortened year.
During
this time the board of managers have held their regular monthly meetings, with
several special meetings, as occasion required. The large attendance at these
meetings and the interest manifested by all members have shown their devotion
to the work entrusted to their care by the citizens of Cortland.
Since the
inauguration of the work five years ago last April there have been treated at
the hospital 227 cases. The present year began with five patients in the house.
The number admitted during the past eight months is fifty-five—twenty-eight
males and twenty-seven females. The number of days occupancy has been 1,135,
being a daily average of nearly five patients. Of the patients treated thirty
have been from our own town, eleven from Homer, two from McLean, two from
Syracuse, and one each from Jamestown, Cuyler, Harford, Truxton, Preble,
Apulia, Cincinnatus, Marathon, Phelps and Boston, Mass.
Of these
fifty-five persons, thirty-five have been paying patients, though, as
heretofore, the sum paid in some instances has been so small as to be
inadequate to meet the actual expense of their sickness, especially in
operative cases. The list of beneficiaries includes three county patients, four
who have been admitted to the privilege of the free bed, and thirteen charity
patients. These have received 362 days of care, the county patients receiving
sixteen of the number, the free bed sixty-nine, and the charity patients 277.
From
these statistics, to which the attention of the public is particularly called,
it will be seen how false are the charges made that "no patients are
admitted to the hospital who cannot pay, except those willing to enter as
county paupers."
It is our
practice, when application is made for the admission of indigent persons, to
inquire whether or not they have been receiving aid from the county, and if it
is learned that they have, or would be compelled to receive such aid were it
not for the hospital, we consider them properly county patients and ask for
their admission as such. There are, however, many patients who have been self-supporting
and who need only temporary aid, who will not accept the privileges of the
hospital if they must bring with them the humiliation and the stigma of being a
"county charge," and our sympathy for them has led us to admit them
as charity, or free patients. Especially in the case of the young have we
wished to guard them from the possible, we regret to say probable, taunt of having
been "helped by the county." Deplore the fact as one may, it is a
fact that no other form of assistance carries with it such a feeling of
disgrace as does county or town aid, even when the recipient is a most worthy
person, who, by force of circumstances, has become dependent upon the public.
In
November, 1892, an effort was made to obtain from the county an annual appropriation
that would enable us to admit the sick poor of the county without delay, undue
publicity or the subjecting them to the humiliation of an investigation of
their circumstances by the town and county officials, but the board of
supervisors deemed it best to offer instead the arrangement by which we receive
$4.25 per week for patients admitted by order of the county superintendent of
the poor, and it is necessary for us to procure his order before the patient is
admitted, except in accident cases. So long as the only aid received from the
town or county must come through this channel, so long it will be necessary for
those having the interests of the hospital in charge to try to secure what is
justly its due.
The
training school for nurses organized in April, 1894, has proved a success and
is accomplishing more than its most enthusiastic supporters had dared hope. The
two nurses first entering the school completed their two years' course, and received
their diplomas at the graduation exercises held at the hospital July 31. Dr. F.
J. Cheney delivered the address to the graduates at that time.
There are
now four student nurses in the training school, one in the senior and three in
the junior class. A regular and thorough course of study is pursued by them
under the direction and instruction of the matron and a series of lectures is given
by the medical and surgical stuffs. Through its nurses caring for the sick in
private homes, the benefits of our hospital are extended beyond its doors. Many
calls have come for the nurses to attend outside cases. These have been
responded to in twenty instances, and their services have always proven highly satisfactory.
This branch of the work has been growing, proving a benefit to the people and a
pecuniary gain to the hospital.
Since
Jan. 1 Mrs. Mary S. Hanks of the New York hospital has held the position of
matron. As head of the training school, she has proved herself a skilled and
efficient teacher and she has shown unusual capacity in the operating room; her
services there have been fully appreciated by our surgeons.
The
amount received for patients' board since Feb. 1 has been $83.02; for nurses'
services $328.01. Aside from this income the hospital has had to depend, as
heretofore, upon the generosity of the public and the efforts of the board of
managers, and of other friends, for obtaining funds to meet running expenses.
The
bequests of $1,000 and $100 left to the hospital by the wills of the late Mrs.
John McFarlan and Mrs. O. A. Baker, respectively, have been received. $1,000
from this source has been applied on the mortgage.
From the
proceeds of the charity ball, held in April, $78.87 was realized; from the
Normal banquet in June, $80.50; from the ball game, $6.40; from the hospital boxes
at the Messenger House and in ex-Police Justice Bull's office, $15.05; from the
STANDARD Industrial Edition an additional sum of $6.68, making the total amount
from that source $347.78. The subscriptions to the Crosley fund are being paid
in from time to time and this proves a regular and welcome source of income.
Other
individual gifts of money have helped to swell the fund, so that we enter upon
a new year of work with all bills for current expenses provided for, notwithstanding
"hard times." How much of hard work, close calculation and real
anxiety has brought this about only those most closely connected with the work
can realize.
Friends
from Cortland and adjoining towns have generously remembered the hospital with
gifts of needed provision, clothing, bedding, fruit, flowers, literature, etc.
Acknowledgment has been made of these gifts from month to month through the
press. If any omissions have occurred we trust they will be overlooked by the
donors.
Especial
thanks are due to Mr. H. J. Messenger as being the one instrumental in planning
and helping to carry forward the charity ball for our benefit. Again are we
indebted to our local press for the daily and weekly papers supplied to the hospital
and for their continued courtesy in the opening of their columns to us without
charge. Mr. Lewis Bouton has given gratuitous legal services; to him and to all
who have aided the hospital in any way the thanks of the association are
tendered.
Two
changes have occurred in the board of managers, Mrs. N. J. Parsons was elected
to fill the place of Mrs. Cheney and Mrs. H. J. Harrington to the place of Mrs.
S. E. Curtis, who resigned on account of removal from town.
It is
with sadness that we have to record the loss of our loved and efficient secretary,
Mrs. F. J. Cheney. In her death the Cortland hospital lost a faithful and loyal
friend, an earnest worker and a wise counselor. Her memory will long be
tenderly cherished by all who had the privilege of working with her.
A legacy
was left us some months ago by the will of Mrs. H. P. Goodrich. Now, as a
memorial, Mr. Goodrich has fully and handsomely furnished the room opening from
the reception room, which is used as the etherizing room and nurses' classroom.
It will be known as the Goodrich room. A private room has been furnished by the
C. M. B. A. and will be called by the name of that society. The furnishing,
like that of all the private rooms, is complete in every respect. With its
handsome rugs, fine linen, dainty china and solid silver, it is all the most fastidious
sick person could desire.
One room
remains without the approved modern hospital furniture—the men's ward. Also the
fitting up of the operating room is not complete. Here are opportunities for
any benevolently disposed individuals or societies to confer great benefits
upon the hospital and honor upon themselves.
A
pleasant feature of the year's report is the endowment of our first free bed by
one who has given our hospital since its organization most faithful service,
giving liberally of time, strength and money. This bed was endowed by our president,
Mrs. Hyatt, in memory of her honored husband, Dr. F. O. Hyatt. It was a fitting
tribute, as no one has ever had the interest of our hospital more at heart,
been more sacrificing in its interest, or rejoiced more in its success than did
Dr. Hyatt.
We desire
to call the attention of the public to our need of a separate building for the reception
and care of such contagious diseases as are admitted into any general hospital.
Until we have such a building no patient suffering from any disease classed as
infectious can be admitted, not even a case of erysipelas, measles or mumps.
Nor can one of our nurses respond to a call from outside to nurse a diphtheria
or scarlet fever case, for in so doing she would, upon her return endanger the
health of all in the hospital.
In April
last there was appointed by the board a medical staff which should serve for
one year, beginning May 1. All ward patients are treated by these physicians free
of charge. There are upon the staff fourteen resident physicians, two upon the
consulting staff. Four each upon the surgical and medical. Three upon the homeopathic
and one upon the hygienic. These physicians have given excellent and
disinterested service, and our thanks are due to them for contributing so
largely to the success of the hospital in the past few months.
The
Cortland hospital long since ceased to be an experiment. With its commodious and
well equipped building, and its constantly increasing facilities for
usefulness, it grows each day more worthy of the regard in which it is held—one
of the most necessary public institutions of our prosperous town.
ELLA M.
BUCK, Secretary, Hospital Ass'n.,
Cortland,
Oct. 5, 1896.
The
treasurer's report of the Cortland Hospital association for the eight months beginning
Feb. 1, and ending Sept. 30, 1896, is as follows:
Balance
on hand, $373.72
Receipts,
$2,458.39
[Total]
$2,832.11
By
expenditures, 2,777.73
Cash on
hand, 54.39
[Total]
$2,832.11
RECEIPTS.
Balance on hand, $373.72
From patients board, 583.02
Nurse's services, 328.01
Gifts and subscriptions, 447.36
Bequests, 1,100
$2,832.11
EXPENDITURES.
Paid on mortgage, $1,000.00
Interest,126.38
Wages and labor, 869.87
Provisions and supplies, 374.07
Clothing, 3.10
Fuel and lights, 173.05
Furniture, beds and bedding, 8.75
Ordinary repairs, 40.12
Medicines and medical supplies,144.43
Building and improvements, 4.00
Insurance, 28.00
Incidental expenses, 5.95
Total, 2,777.72
Cash on hand, 54.39
$2,832.11
FLORENCE A. COBB, Treasurer.
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