Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 295, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1919 — UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL DOING GREAT WORK [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL DOING GREAT WORK

Robert W. Long Hospital Cares For Sick of State Without Cost I Few people In Indiana realize that the Indiana .University School of Medicine and the Robert W. Long Hospital at Indianapolis are virtually ope and* the same Institution—that each is an adjunct to the other and that both are devoted to the great work of taking care of the ills and the ailments human flesh is heir to — and that each is the property of the ‘sovereign commonwealth of Indiana. Few others realize the Robert W. 'Long Hospital, endowed by the late ’Dr. Long and later re-ondowed by his widow, was especially instituted to provide treatment for the indigent

sick and afflicted of Indiana without cost. There is an average waiting list of seventy-five persons desiring to. get into a hospital that contains only 112 -beds. —— —— Only 17 Pay Wards. With all its facilities, the Robert W. Long Hospital has only 17 private wards that may be paid for by persons able to do so. The remainder are devoted mainly to free patients. To obtain admission it is necessary to procure a certificate from the township trustee and naturally the patient must be a resident of the state. With the trustee’s certificate, showing the patient’s need and inability to pay for treatment, admission is furnished by the hospital in the order the application is received. And, as above set forth, there is an average waiting list of 75. This will indicate to the thinking person the great need for enlargement through state funds of this worthy institution. The Robert W. Long hospital is now working to the fullest capacity possible. It is held to be the most completely equipped hospital in In'diana for the diagnosis, treatment and care of the sick or for performing major and minor surgical operations. This hospital offers to poor 'and indigent residents of Indiana all the advantages that can be obtained by a paying patient and the statement is emphatically made that in the wards no nurse knows which is a charity patient and which is a paying patient. The charity patient gets the services of one of the regular medical or surgical staff of the institution men who are at the top of their pro-

session. The nursing staff consists of a personnel of the highest type in the profession. The Robert W. Long hospital 1* very proud of its record in the treatment of children. Crippled and deformed children have been relieved by the score. For instancce, fiftytwo operations for cleft palate, by which the patients have been enabled to speak plainly without impediment; twenty-seven hare lip operations, and similar relief of malformations, all bear testimony to real "benefits to as many individuals within the past year. Sixty-one operations for club-foot and other malformations of the feet are recorded in the past few months—all resulting in making more useful citizens for the state of Indiana. Serves Entire State. The hospital makes an especial effort to be of service to the state and county institutions of Indiana. In "the past year 522 patients were received and cared for without cost to the parent Institution. In its report of patients received by counties it is apparent that the benefits of the Rob-

ert W. Long hospkal spread to all corners of the state and there is no county but what has received some material benefit in the way of this free service.

Applications for admission are received daily from every section of the state. If it could be possible to double the size of the hospital by rubbing some magic lamp, it is likely that the institution would find itself in increased demand. But the situation as it stands presents a crying need for action, either on the part of the state-of Indiana or on the pert of some generous and wealthy philanthropists, or both. Since the opening of the hospital and up to Oct.. 1, 13'9, there have passed through the Robert \V. Long hospital 9,837 patients, an average of 107 admissions a month. And out cf this number 70 per cent were given treatment without a cent of cost to the patient. The Robert W. Long hospital is the only institution of its kind in the state and inasmuch as it is a part of Indiana University it is believed the alumni of Indiana University can exercise a great power by spreading information concerning the institution and its needs. AVith the alumni of “old I. U.” (and I. U. is now preparing to celebrate its one hundredth anniversary) interested in the welfare of the Robert W. Long hospital it is confidently believed by the heads of this institution that its needs will be given the serious consideration they deserve on the part cf the people of the state it serves, to the end that the hospital may soon function to its fullest potential strength, for the good and glory of the commonwealth of Indiana.