COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE HEALTH SCIENCES STANDARD HX00030589 3- HOME TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS IN NEW YORK CITY Jan. 8, 1906— Oct. i, 1907 An Account of 20 months' experience of the Committee on the Prevention of Tuberculosis of the New York Charity Organization Soeiety. i^nL nM3 COLLEGE OF PHYSICLANS AND SURGEONS LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Open Knowledge Commons http://www.archive.org/details/hometreatmentoftOOchar HOME TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS IN NEW YORK CITY Jan. 8, 1906 — Oct. i, 1907 Being a R.eport of the Relief Committee of the Committee on the Prevention of Ttibercnlosis of the New York Charity Orgfanization Societ}^. March, 1908 C3 1J TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Org-anization of Relief Committee - - - - - 8 Plan of Operation -------- q Medical Reports as a Basis ------ lo Committee Recommendations ------ 12 General Scope of Relief - - - - - - -13 Forms of Relief - - - -- - - -16 Results Obtained -------- ig Home Treatment - - - - -- - -21 Day Camp ---------24 Combined Treatment, Home and Day Camp - - - 28 Sanatoria Treatment -------29 Treatment in the Country - - - - - -31 A System of Tuberculosis Dispensaries - - - - 35 Extra Dispensary Treatment ------ 38 Conclusions --------- 3g Financial Statement _______ 47 COM.MITTEE ON THE PRE\'EXTION OF TUBERCULOSIS Edgar T. Levev, Cliairman Hermann AI. Biggs, ]\I. D. J. S. Billings, Jr., M. D. David Blaustein John W. Brannan, AI. D. Herbert S. Brown Joseph D. Bryant, 'M. D. Edmond J. Butler Charles F. Cox Thos. Darlington, I\I. D. Robert W. be Forest Edward T. Devine Homer Folks Lee K. Frankel Robt. W. Hebberd L. Emmett Holt, AL D. J. H. Huddleston, ]\L D. A. Jacobi, ]\L D. Walter B. James, ]\L D. E. G. Janeway, ^l. D. i\Iiss A. B. Jennings S. A. Knopf, AL D. Alexander Lambert, M. D. Ernst J. Lederle Egbert Le Fevre, M. D. Henry I\L Leipziger Alfred AIeyer, ]\L D. James Alex. [Miller, AL D. Thos. M. Mulry Mrs. James E. Xewcomb Eugene A. Philbin T. IMitchell Prudden, M. D. E. .Guernsey Rankin, M. D. Andrew H. Smith, ]\L D. Antonio Stela, M. D. W. G. Thompson, M. D. E. L. Trudeau, AL D. Lawrence A'eiller Fred'k L. Wachex'heim, AL D. John' Seeley Ward, Jr. B. H. Waters, Isl. D. Paul Kennaday, Secretary - Frank H. ]\L\nn, Assistant Secretary co:\nnTTEE ox relief James Alex. AIiller, AI. D., Chairman R. A. Eraser, AI. D. James C. Greenway, ]\I. D. S. F. Hallock, ~\\. D. J. H. Huddleston, ]\I. D. Walter L. Niles, M. D. W. F. Persons Henry L. Shively, ]\I. D. A. M. Shr.\dy, AI. D. B. H. Waters, M. D. Gaylord S. White Henry S. Patterson. AI. D. Paul Kennaday, Secretary Frank H. ]\Iann, Assistant Secretai-y HOME TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS IN NEW YORK CITY. With the development of interest in the subject of tuberculosis, in New York City in recent years and the accompanying increase in the number of agencies caring for the tuberculous poor, physi- cians and charity workers have been more and more impressed that something further was needed in the treatment of this class of the sick than had been heretofore had. While dispensaries for the treatment of tuberculosis were each year increasing in number, and clinic classes becoming larger, at the same time cases of tuberculosis referred to organizations administering relief were becoming more and more frequent. Lack of adequate funds prevented the Charity Organization Society from providing the special treatment necessary to enable it to co-operate effectively with the dispensaries in the treatment of these cases ; the supplying of special diet, the making good of the wage loss resulting from the absence of the bread winner in a hospital or sanatorium, the paying of rent in lighter and better rooms, were all out of the question without the provision of special means to enable the society to meet these needs. Accordingly, in the early part of 1906 steps were taken to raise sufficient funds to carry on this work on a large enough scale and for a sufficient length of time to make the experiment worth while. Through the generosity of eight men a fund of $20,500 was subscribed for the first year's work ; of this $4,500 was renewed during the second year, with $8,496.40 secured from special funds of the society, small contributions and interest, making a total of $33,496.40 available for the work during the entire twenty months -of the experiment. 8 ORGAXIZATIOX OF RELIEF CO.ALAIITTEE. To the Committee on the Prevention of Tuberculosis, to whom the administration of this fund was entrusted, it seemed that the work might best be done through a sub-committee, composed on the one hand of physicians directly responsible for the larger part of the special tuberculosis dispensary work carried on in the city, and on the other hand of such members of the Charity Organiza- tion Society as could particularly well represent the general policy of the Society in the matter of relief and charitable assistance.* A Committee on Relief was therefore organized with the following personnel : Dr. James Alexander Miller, Chairman, Director Bellevue Hospital Tuberculosis Clinic; Dr. J. H. HuDDLESTON, A'isiting Physician Gouverneur Hospital ; Dr. B. H. Waters, Chief of Tuberculosis Clinics, Department of Health ; Dr. Hexry L. Shively, Physician in Charge Department of Heart and Lungs, Presbyterian Hospital ; Dr. S. F. Hallock, Chairman of C. O. S. Committee on District Work ; Mr. Gaylord S. White, Alember of Yorkville District Committee of C. O. S. ; *For the benefit of those not familiar with the work of the Charity Organization Society the following statement is given of the methods employed with applicants for assistance: In the first instauce, applicants for relief are reportel to the Registration Bureau. If they are found to be cases already under the care of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, or Jewish cases, coming under the supervision of the United Hebrew Charities, they are referred to one or the other of those societies, which then take entire charge of the case. If they are new cases, or former C. O. S. cases, the Investigating Department makes such inquiry as is necessary, and where the need is but tempoiary, keeps them under care until that need has been met. If, on the other hand, the case is one requiring more or less extended treatment, it is then made a -'district case" and sent for supervision, relief, if necessary, to one of the ten district offices of the Society located in various parts of Manhattan and in the Bronx. These district offices are each in charge of a district agent, who is advised, at stated times, by her district committee. Through frequent discussions of individual cases by district agents and the officer in the Central Office having general charge of the Society's "case work." bv regular ^^•eekly meetings between all agents and the General Secretary of the Society and by a Committee on District Work, meeting every two weeks and composed of representatives from district committees, the general policy of the Society is kept uniform and at the same time latitude is given to the districts to carry out such measures as they consider best fitted to the solution of their individual cases. * Mr. C. C. Carstens^ Assistant Secretary of C. O. S. in charge of the case work of the Society ; fMR. Paul Kennaday^ Secretary of the Committee on the Prevention of Tuberculosis of the C. O. S. There were later added : Dr. R. A. Eraser, Attending Physi- cian to New York Dispensary ; Dr. James C. Greenway, Chief of Clinic and Associate Attending Physician to New York Hospital ; Dr. Walter L. Niles, Physician in Charge of Christ Church Tuberculosis Class ; Dr. Henry S. Patterson, Chief of Clinic Department of Applied Therapeutics, Vanderbilt Clinic ; Mr. W. F. Persons, Superintendent, Charity Organization Society ; Dr. A. M. Shrady, Assistant Visiting Physician to Harlem Hospital. To this Committee was turned over the relief work of the Committee on the Prevention of TuTDcrculosis with no restrictions other than that this fund should be used for the relief of those suffering from tuberculosis. PLAN OF OPERATION. Various methods for carrying on this work were open to the Committee, all containing good points and all open to some objec- tions. It was finally decided that on the whole the best results were to be obtained through making use, as far as possible, of the agencies already at hand in the Charity Organization Society and in the tuberculosis dispensaries in the city. This decision was based upon the conviction that the treatment of tuberculosis is a municipal problem and that however large the relief fund at the Committee's disposal, the individuals to be directly benefited through financial assistance will necessarily be but a small portion O'f the total of those requiring such aid. For this reason the Committee felt that it should sO' plan its work that its influence in the treatment of particular cases would be effective on the larger problems of dispensary and charitable care of consumptives in general. It further believed that the plan thus adopted would prevent the duplication of existing machinery, that there would be avoided the unnecessary sending of additional visitors among the con- * Mr. Carstens resigned on December 31st, 1906. t Mr. Kennaday resigned on November 18th, 1907. lO sumptive poor, and that also the expenses of administration would thus be reduced to a minimum. Such actual experience as was at hand to go by — that gained in 1903, when for a short period the Committee on the Prevention of Tuberculosis took over the relief work of the Charity Organi- zation Society in families in which tuberculosis existed — seemed to show that it would be best to leave the actual relief of persons applying for aid to the usual agencies of the Society, and not to try to separate the relief of the consumptive patient from the care and continuing oversight of the consumptive's family. For, tuberculosis among the poor of the New York tenements is inex- tricably bound up with accompanying conditions requiring just such care as the Charity Organization Society is designed to give. MEDICAL REPORT AS A BASIS. The Committee has carried on its work in the following manner: As a basis for the consideration of a case the Com- mittee has required a medical report showing the stage of disease, whether the patient is ambulant or in bed, what the general condition is, the patient's ability to work, the prognosis, whether extra diet is being given and the examining physician's recom- mendations. These facts were reported in the following manner on a card schedule especially prepared for this purpose. The reports were made out by the physicians and nurses at the following dispensaries and were promptly forwarded to the Committee on Relief: The Department of Health Tuberculosis Dispensary, Bellevue Hospital, Presb}i;erian Hospital, Gouver- neur Hospital, Harlem Hospital, New York Hospital and New York Dispensaries and the Vanderbilt Clinic. Although in some cases reports were received from other dispensaries than those represented on the Committee, yet in order to obtain, as far as possible, uniformity of standard, practically all cases were laid before the Committee after physical examina- tion at one or the other of those dispensaries which by the plan of organization were brought into very close touch with the relief work supervised by the Committee. Too much labor cannot be asked from dispensary physicians already overworked, and so II 1 ti ^ •^ ^ I o S ^ > 5. 0) w ""' '«•• 6 (0 ,^ 2 O -1 00 3 u Vi^ SI c u m ^ ^ 3 < +i o •3 ■^' , ll. D CO o UD O z 1 05 >. "S ^ «J J O N < 5 a i- :i Z > ki ^ O' a. o u hi h W 5 i- z < o 3 E in . '^ (0 si n lA Ud "0 "a u I AEDICAL REPORT LOSIS RELIEF OF THE C. O S •a < a S 3 X) 1 1.' n II. ^ ■o" ■2 01 is e o b. Z in in < < Z ' 3 O ; ■S-2 • SON 'SMUVM VI 33 HO AS IXVOIONI 3£ jvaid 12 the report cards furnished to the dispensaries did not cah for elaborate information or details of physical signs. Recommen- dations as to treatment were, however, by means of these reports suggested by an examining physician, who had full knowledge of the physical condition of the patient, and who was himself either a member of the Committee or was working under the immediate direction of a member. It was these recommenda- tions which the Committee tried to carry out so far as practicable, modified as they were by the physician as he came more fully to understand the various aspects of the problems of home relief. CO:\IMITTEE RECOM^IEXDATIONS. Once each week the Committee held a meeting at which new and old cases, sent in by different departments of the Society, came up for consideration. In going over these the Committee made recommendations as to medical treatment and relief, which as the work progressed became precedents by which the Secre- tary was enabled to express the Committee's opinion on many cases without laying them before the Committee itself. The num- ber of new cases referred to the Committee, the number of cases resubmitted at frequent intervals for further advice as changing circumstances required, the general similarity of certain problems presented, the need for opportunity to discuss questions of dispen- sary treatment and administrative control, made this procedure necessar}', and as the Secretary's recommendations were at all times subject to review and revision by the Committee, each mem- ber of which was provided with full copies of all decisions made, the plan proved satisfactory as well as expeditious. Further, the Secretary and other agents of the Society were in constant touch with each other in reaching decisions. In order to obtain relief from the Committee the advice of the Committee had to be followed by the district committees, although these departments retained full charge of the families referred to the Committee's consideration. That the Committee might be able to judge for itself whether this was being done, all cases referred to the Committee were carefully indexed on card schedules on Avliich were written a summarv of the social, housing and medical condi- 13 tions in each case, together with its history from the time it was referred to the Committee, as well as the Committee's decisions and the amount of money expended. Furthermore, all requisi- tions for funds to meet the Committee recommendations were always accompanied by the "case record," giving- the full history of the case and showing just what has taken place since the last previous payment. A visitor working full time for the Committee and a visiting trained nurse working half time visited the patients. The Committee itself met once a week and had as its executive, in constant touch with the situation, a secretary who had general supervision and an assistant whose whole time was devoted to the work. GENERAL SCOPE OF RELIEF. Underlying the Committee's recommendations for the treat- ment of individual cases have run two main ideas ; the one, that hopeful cases should be directly aided by the best treatment practicable ; the other, that the consumptive's family should be protected against infection, and that this could best be accom- plished by segregation in a hospital or a country sanatorium. Li the case of most of the second stage cases with unfavorable prognosis, and in nearly all third stage cases the Committee has advised hospital treatment and has stood ready to care for the patient's family if the advice were followed. For, it should be borne in mind that even the scanty and occasional earnings of a consumptive are important to many a poor family, and often objection to hospital care is raised for this reason by father, mother, husband or wife, even though the bread-winning power of the patient has been reduced to the lowest point, if not, indeed, entirely taken away by sickness. In certain exceptional instances, even in this apparently hopeless class, it has been found imprac- ticable to advise hospital treatment ; for instance, where a sick mother was needed to keep together a large family depending upon her guiding care. In such cases pains were taken to reduce the danger of infection to a minimum by insisting upon a separate room for the sick one and by frequent visits on the part of the nurse. 14 t 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 tl 1 o 1 d to 1 ■o 1 .D ^ i 1 1 t^ o r J3 £ 2 ? 1 ^ i V o i 2 00 6 Q- O < 1 • ) \ s. J 3 a a. < 1 Estin^ated In- come per week for last year 21 , 3 ^ 1 ^ * ^ 1 1 c ] c . 1 Yrs. in O.S. ^ SI > CO "c J 2 3 c o •o ^ £ c F > bi c CL .• O Ol ^ a I J£ £ T3 o a ■c ;:? VJ C s o ^ O O o 5 „ c % c c o 1 2 o 3 c 3 > 15 o c o IB o •8 b £ 'c ol k tSI m o ^ o o o a o 000 000 _ __ ■•— O^ 02 »-• (^ 4 ■1^ ^ ^^^■^"^^ S -;■ Lfi oJ 0> vO . — — 01 fMTWt V o ^ ^ >5^^ ^^ |S>3 S ^ u> So -c- ^ » 2 ^=?^(^ to or ci Q> R i6 Too frequently, however', nothing will induce a bed-ridden patient to follow the Committee's advice and the urging of the dis- trict agent to enter a hospital. Dread of hospital, pride against be- coming a public charge, reports of the bad accommodations and the low moral character of many of the patients at some hospitals, all this stands in the way. For such objectors the Committee did not feel that it could go beyond advice as to w^hat was regarded as the proper treatment and the offer of assistance if this advice were followed. These cases were, therefore, "closed" as Com- mittee cases, and left in charge of the proper agencies of the Charity Organization Society and of the inspecting force of the Department of Health. FORMS OF RELIEF. While it has not been necessary to reject many cases, certain subjects have been withdrawn from consideration as being obviously inappropriate for treatment ; in so doing, only the broad- est lines have been followed; hopeless third-stage cases, chronic alcoholics, and the persistently incorrigible have been practically the only subjects rejected. Some families have been self-sup- porting, and have not needed relief, but only advice and direction. A few non-tuberculous cases were referred to the Committee, but naturally were not treated. During the Committee's twenty months' work, 257 cases were excluded for the following reasons : Hospital cases not needing home relief, 157; families self-support- ing, not needing relief. 34 ; not tuberculous, 24 ; refused to follow Committee's directions, 24 : supported by other relief funds, 12 ; moved away from the city, 6. The Committee has administered relief in one form or another during the period of its work to 355 dift'erent patients and their families; of these 166 were males and 189 females; while in these families there were 762 children 16 years of age and under. The relief given has been in many dift'erent wavs. Money frequently has been given to make up the loss to the family of the patient's wages, while he has abstained from work or gone to a hospital or sanatorium for treatment ; rent has frequently been paid, especially for more expensive quarters where light and air could be obtained ; special diet of milk and eggs have been 17 furnished ; clothing and bedding have been suppUed ; special employment suited to the patient's needs has been obtained; and, in a word, all things done that could help the patient to recovery or prevent the members of his family from becoming infected. That suitable cases might leave their families to enter hospitals or sanatoria, there has been given to 31 persons relief amounting to $2,238.76 in the form of "wage loss," to make up the wages lost by the consumptive through ceasing work in pursuance of advice given. Twenty-five other families have been moved into better rooms, the Committee paying moving expenses and excess of the new rent over the old, or all of the new rent, as the case might be. Rent has been paid for 81 others in their former apartments, where these rooms were suitable and where also there was a separate room for the consumptive. For 22 others beds have been supplied so that the patient might have a^- separate bed in a separate room. Special diet, usually in the form of milk and eggs, has been provided in 154 cases, where the residence of the patient was so far removed from a dispensary or diet kitchen station that the patient was thus practically cut off from this needed form of treatment at these agencies, or where it could not be secured through them. Clothing has been supplied to 75 patients and sometimes to their families and was a regular method of relief by the Committee in cases going to hospitals and sanatoria. Through the aid of the Committee on Employment for the Handicapped several consumptives have been provided with em- ployment of a character that seemed suited to their physical con- dition, such as doorkeepers, messengers; newsdealers, handy men, etc. Ten patients have been maintained in whole or in part at pay sanatoria at a cost of $1,451.43 for periods averaging from i^^ to 9 months. This was done because such treatment, though expensive, seemed the only method open of effectually returning these patients to wage-earning power, and the refusal to give such treatment seemed likely to lead to unavoidable physical decline along with the possibility of infection to others of the patient's family. 19 Thirty-seven other patients, through the instrumentahty of the Committee, were sent to the New York State Sanatorium for Incipient Tuberculosis at Ray Brook, to the Municipal Sana- torium at Otisville and to private sanatoria as free patients, and provided with clothing or such other assistance as was necessary. In one of these cases, a young girl of 17 years, whose parents were continually insisting on her working to add to the small family income, the family was prevailed upon to let her stay at the sana- torium for six months by the payment to them each week of $5, the amount that the girl was earning before taken out of work by friends who brought the case to the Committee's attention. In another case the mother of five children was enabled to go to this same institution in the Adirondacks after her children had been sent to a reliable home in the country, where their board was paid by the Committee for five months. Seventy patients have been sent tO' the country for stays varying from one week to five months and lasting in 33 cases for three months or more, in 25 cases for two' months and a fraction, in 9 cases for one month or one month and a fraction, in 2 cases for one-half a month, and in i case for one week. This has cost $5,417.61. RESULTS OBTAINED. While a full understanding of the results obtained from the Committee's work can be best had from a study of the detailed tables accompanying this report, the following synopses of a few case records throw much light on this whole subject: A widow with four children was forced to receive aid when her eldest boy, the main bread-winner of the family, was compelled to give up his work on account of tuber- culosis. The Committee paid his wage loss while he took the cure at Otisville Sanatorium. An examination of the other members of the family revealed that two of the children were in the early stages of the disease. The pension in the home was increased and these two were sent to Ray Brook. The mother bore up bravely under her misfortunes and after a few months the family was reunited and the two boys resumed their work. 20 ■ A young girl 20 years of age who, with her sister, was the main support of a feeble grandmother, after remaining a short while in one of the city hospitals, was referred to the Committee for charitable assistance. She was sent into the country for three months at the Committee's expense and returned in excellent condition, having gained 20 pounds. A suitable position was soon secured for her and the family was put on an independent basis. A young man, 25 years of age, with a wife and one small child, presented quite a problem, after having refused treatment in a sanatorium because there were "too many sick people there" and after giving up several positions in the city. For nearly a 3^ear his rent was paid and food was supplied to the family. At last a position was secured for him in the country, where he established himself and later moved his wife and child, becoming independent of any charitable assistance. A father, 53 years of age, suffering with advanced tuberculosis, filthy in person, living with a wife and nine children in three small, dirty rooms, was a dangerous source of infection when the case came to the Committee's notice. When persuasion failed to induce the man to enter a hospital, the law was appealed to and the man was forcibly removed to Riverside Sanatorium. The wage loss of the wife, now forced to give up her work to care for the children, was made up by the Committee and the rent was paid. The man's removal was the family's redemption. The whole tone of the household was elevated and at the end of ten months, though the woman was faithful in visiting "her man'' at the hospital, she would not listen for a moment to his entreaties to return home. A widow with two children, unable to do a full amount of work and yet unwilling to have her home broken up, that she might go into a hospital, was paid three days' wage loss each week, which enabled her to take "the cure" at home. During the summer she spent at least three days a week at the camp, improving steadily, and when the Committee's work ceased she was quite ready to resume the full support of her family. 21 A young woman, 24 years of age, living with distant relatives, who were unwilling to keep her longer unless she could work and pay her way, was forced in her ex- tremity to apply for assistance. When she first came under the Society's care, she had been rejected by one of the sanatoria as an unsuitable case for sanatorium treat- ment. Her board was paid, milk and eggs were supplied, the home was frequently visited by an experienced nurse, the girl attended clinic regularly each week and was so improved at the end of three months that a position was secured for her as a domestic at the Municipal Sanatorium at Otisville. A young man, 22 years of age, boarding with friends, was forced to give up his work on account of tuberculosis and was referred by one of the clinics to the day camp. After eight weeks' treatment there, during which time the Committee paid his wage loss, he was so improved as to be able to resume his work as street car conductor. A young girl, 21 years of age, broken down through hard work in a tobacco factory and suffering with tuber- culosis in the incipient form, was referred by one of the clinics to spend her vacation of one week at the day camp. She was persuaded to continue treatment, the Committee paying her wage loss, and after fourteen weeks, having gained twelve pounds, she was so improved that she could not be persuaded to remain longer at the camp. The Committee's main activities have been in five directions — Home Treatment ; the Day Camp ; Country Treatment ; Sana- torium Treatment ; and the Establishment of a Proper System of Tuberculosis Dispensaries : HOME TREATMENT. For the hundreds who either will not or cannot go to a hospital or sanatorium, home treatment is essential. Here, not- withstanding the limitations under which we are working in New York City, everything possible must be done for the patient 22 to restore him to his position as a useful member of society, and more especially to protect the members of his family and of the other families living in close proximity to him, from the disease. Here, too, must the patient be taught those essentials as to the nature of his disease, and the means of combating it which ordinarily would be learned in the sanatorium. The Committee during the period of its activity has adminis- tered Home Relief to 127 families; that is, the patients were treated not in hospitals, sanatorium, or day camps, but exclusively in their own homes. In every case efforts were made to secure the most sanitary, wholesome and propitious living conditions for the patient. The sunniest and airiest room was always reserved for him, a sep- arate bed was considered essential and a separate room was the rule with but few exceptions. In a word, everything affecting the life of the patient was carefully supervised — from the social side by the districts of the Charity Organization Society, from the medical side by the nurses and physicians of the special tubercu- losis clinics — and the life of the patient brought to as high a degree of regularity as the conditions and circumstances permitted. The following table shows the results obtained from this method, so far as it is possible to state statistically the results of such treatment : Table I. ■ • Home Treatment — 127 Cases. Been Its Obtained Condition at Bbqinning 35 Incipient 80 Moderately Ad- vanced 12 Far Advanced Total Percent- age Good Pair f Poor Good Fair Poor Good Fair I'oor Appstrently cured . 2 ' \ 1 3 2 Arrested 8 1 i 1 4 3 17 18 Improved 7 4 12 1 19 1 2 1 45 36 Progressive 8 4 9 23 4 5 6 r>2 49 Total 25 9 1 25 ! 49 1 6 6 (5 127 100 23 24 It appears from this table that with the 127 patients treated exclusively in their homes, excellent results have on the whole been obtained, in view of the obstacles that exist to this method of treatment. For instance, out of 35 incipient cases thus treated, in but 12 or 34 per cent, did the disease progress, while in 23 cases or 66 per cent, the patient's condition materially improved. Of the 80 cases originally diagnosed as "moderately ad- vanced," such favorable results naturally could not be expected, yet even here good results have been achieved. In but 39 cases or 49 per cent, did the disease progress, while in 41 cases or 51 per cent, the patient's condition improved. In the 12 cases originally diagnosed as "far advanced," the story is of course different; of these but one case improved. Of the total 127 cases, considered irrespective of their original condition, in 62 cases or 49 per cent, the disease progressed, while in 65 or 51 per cent, the patients improved. The cost of securing these results has been $12,907.34. This has been for a total of 4,343 weeks. The average treatment per patient has been for 34 weeks, the total cost per patient, $101.63, and the average cost per patient but $2.97 per week. In this connection it should be remembered that this cost includes not only the money spent specifically for the patient, but that spent for the family as well. THE DAY CA:\IP. . ■ The experience of others pointed out the "day camp"" as an essential part of any adequate scheme of home relief for con- sumptives. \^arious plans were considered by the Committee ; vacant lots in the Bronx, a part of Blackwell's Island, unused corners of some of the far uptown parks, hospital roofs, boats and recreation piers and finally one of the old Staten Island ferr\-boats that since the building of the new ferryboats by the city had been lying idle at one of the Xorth River piers. Through the courtesy of Hon. John A. Bensel, Commissioner of Docks and Ferries, the "Southfield" was thus put at the Committee's disposal free of all expense and with the privilege of making such minor alterations and repairs as were necessary for the new and strange use to 25 which the old boat was to be put. Moored at the end of the dock at the foot of West Sixteenth Street, in the Hudson River, exposed to the cool summer river breezes, with constantly shifting scenes furnished by the passing river craft, the decks of the "Southfield," liberally supplied with steamer chairs and ham- mocks, gave relief from the stifling heat of the tenements to many a poor consumptive who could not go to a sanitorium be- cause too sick or because needed at home. From every point of view, health, happiness, comfort and economy, the boat has been a success. It received only those sent by the associated dispen- saries, paying carfares for those whom investigation by relief societies showed to be too poor to pay these themselves; it gave them an abundance of milk and eggs and bread and butter, adding to this in the last month and a half, a simple cooked dinner. Every patient was carefully watched by the Committee's efficient nurse, Mrs. Helen Smith; their temperature was taken twice a day and their weight and pulse every morning. This care, added to such advice as the visiting physician might give in individual cases or as the examining dispensary physician might have noted on the patient's record card when sending him to the boat, furnished satisfactory medical oversight. While the general success of the camp may be thus almost unqualifiedly commended, the attendance was regrettably small. The camp was opened on June 13, 1907, and closed on October 31, 1907. Out of 242 different patients who presented themselves at one time or another during the 141 days in which the camp was in operation, only 87 attended for 20 days or more. The average daily attendance at the camp was 39.4 — a very small figure when we consider that there were accommodations for at least 100 patients and that the Manhattan tenements hold 30,000 tubercu- lous patients, a large number of whom might have availed them- selves of the privilege of the camp. The meagre attendance is at least partly explained by the fact that this was the initial year of the work and the camp had established no prestige which would appeal to health seekers who must limit their search to the City of New York. This, however, is probably the least reason to which we may appeal in explanation of why 242 patients, who for at least a few hours tested the merit of the "Southfield," did 26 not make a better showing of attendance. Some found it impos- sible to make the long journey, either from the upper east side or the upper west side or from the lower east side, and some living in the Bronx found, of course, the same difficulty — a reason foi the establishment of a number of camps which would be readily accessible to the various crowded tenement sections. Some had duties at home which made more than a very occasional attend- ance impossible: they consequently never contracted the habit of coming — a reason for providing in connection with the camp for the home relief and home supervision of all those who attend. Quite a number, through one agency or another, found their wa}" to the country for the summer months and not a few through their association with the camp secured admission to Rav Brook or Otisville Sanatoria and were transferred there. A few suffered from seasickness on board the "Southfield" and pre- ferred to tr}' the parks and roofs. The rest may be classified as those who for no apparent reason simply did not care to come. The camp was open Sundays as well as week days, and while the attendance was unusually small on those days, the number of Sundays as compared with the other da}'s was so few, that it made no considerable difference in the average attendance. The aver- age attendance on Sundays was 24.4, the average attendance on week day? was 41.9, the general average attendance was 39.4. Table IL . ' - Day Camp — Results with %j Patients for 20 Days or ]\Iore. Condition ox Admission Results Obtained 97 Incipient 47 Moderately Ad- vanced 13 Far Advanced Total Percent- age ■ Good : Fair Poor Good' Fair i Poor Good Fair Poor Improved 17 : 4 8 23 3 1 4 60 m Progressive 5 1 1 8 4 e 4 -2 -7 31 Total ■3-:! 5 9 31 7 ■2 5 6 87 100 It appears from this table that of the 87 patients who came to the day camp for 20 days or more, very satisfactory results 27 have been secured. Out of 27 incipient cases there treated in but 6 or 22 per cent, did the disease progress, while in 21 cases or 78 per cent, the patient's condition improved. Of the 47 cases originally diagnosed as "moderately ad- vanced," but 13 or only 2'j per cent, progressed while 34 or 72 per cent, improved. Even among the cases diagnosed as "far advanced," good results were obtained; out of 13 cases of this kind but 8 were progressive, while 5 of them, improved. The following summary of the results of the day camp treatment and the cost of running the camp with other details is of interest : * Summary of 87 Cases Who Attended 20 Days or More. General Condition. Improved 60 69% Progressive 27 31% Weight. Gain 66 lyoss 19 Stationary 2 General Statistics of Day Camp. Total number of days open 141 Total number of patients treated — • Male 144 Female 98 Number of cases who attended 20 days or more during season 87 Male 49 Female 38 Total number of attendances 5,567 Average attendance per day 39.4 Average attendance on Sundays 24.4 Average attendance on week days 41.9 Maximum attendance 70 Total cost $2,790.21 Equipment — Supplies $515.82 Wages ■ 51.56 Total $567.38 *It may be interesting to note that of these 87 cases treated at the day camp for 20 daye or more, 30 improved as to their pulmonary condition; 50 were stationary and only 17 progressed. 28 Maintenance — Supplies 474-5