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Show Public Appreciation Of Hospitals Theme of National Hospital Day On National Hospital Day the public pauses to learn something of the unceasing work of hospitals, '"Shose influence for protection is measured not only by the 700,000 men, women and children served daily in the hospital beds, but by the growing number of well-trained, efficient doctors, nurses, and other health workers who are fitted fit-ted for their work by the hospitals. hospi-tals. Without the equipment, the personnel and above all the spirit of research and progress that characterizes the hospital, our land still would be swept by pestilence and plague; for the hospital is a bulwark against epidemic and , (Continued on page ten) Hospital Day (Continued from first page) widespread disease as well as a haven for those whom the doctor cannot adequately serve at home or in his office. National Hospital Day, May 12, is the day set aside by the hospitals hospi-tals throughout the United States and Canada as well as the rest of the world to join together in having hav-ing open house to encourage the public to know their hospitals" better. bet-ter. Too few people are acquainted with the services of the modern hospital a service represented by more than half a million men and women, the medical staffs and personnel of the hospitals. This staff of workers fights for health and happiness 24 hours a day, every day. Illness and accident do not choose daylight hours in which to strike; sudden attacks of disease dis-ease may come in the wee sma' hours. Every hospital day is three 8-hour 8-hour working days. Think of those things in terms of payroll, heat, light, fuel, building maintenance and the thousand and one things the hospital needs. Hospital linens and beds are used three times as long each day as the linens and bed in the average home. So it is with other hospital equipment. It must be ready for use at all times. The largest item of hospital expense ex-pense is payroll, for the simple reason that "helping folks to get well" is a task that can not be handled on mass-production lines. The hospital cannot store so many prescriptions and hand these out to the sick people when it's "time to take your medicine". Each prescription is based on a personal person-al study by the doctor of the patient's pa-tient's condition. The hospital can not prepare so many meals of uniform uni-form ingredients, for when we realize re-alize that food is a part of the treatment and that meals must be made up as the doctor suggests or orders, we also must remember that sick people have likes and dislikes that are accentuated by their illness. Many of the hospital personnel, who actually spend from a few minutes to several hours in doing something of a special nature na-ture for one patient and for nobody no-body else at that time, are never seen by the patient. Yet the invisible in-visible army of hospital personnel, like the building and equipment, must be kept ready night and day. |
