OUT-PATIENTS' DAY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 99, 20 January 1908, Page 9

OUT-PATIENTS' DAY.

' A ; SCENE "AT THE HOSPITAL. ' ■ It ii not a cheerful place, tho out-patient . Jepartinont at the Hospital. Perhaps it iould not bo. Nearly a hundred people waiting,; and' all of them:moro or less ill. The writor/iaw them there last Friday afternoon. Tho-pion-vrere oitt-ing on the benches agaiufit the walls of a large bare room, and a vestibule opening into it. Soino talked of their . , Ulnesscs and the operations they had un- ... dergono.'; and others, more wisely, of tho cricket match, but-most'were silent., Olio, courteously moved to tho' end of ,lus bench room for tho Pressman, whom.lie, perhaps, : mistook for a noiv patient. This little picturo might havo been drawn in' deeper.-' colours "if • the ..Pressman had'merely used:. His; imagination, instead of going anil sitting' down. among the men. Slings, band-' agps and crutches wore not verv much in evidence, 1 •'anil, tho' faces were not all pnlo. It Was . the quietness of tho assembly, • tho absence of' ouick 'movement, of smiles, of animation, 'that sliowed tliat it was composed off patients.. ; Tho out-patients' department is in a separate budding.: 'Two .doors front the roadway, one for tho I women, / girls, and small. children, and ,pne for the men and boys. In a littlo room bettveon' tho two sits Mr. /R. Chinchcu, tho;Secretary, and another littlo room 'simi- . .situated iis the. ticket-clerk's office. Tho,consulting rooms of Dr. Gilray and Dr. Patrick aro further back. . Now patients , coine singly, 6r, if . children, with their . parents, into Mr. Cbinclicn's room.. Kindly but. firmly he questions them, and enters in a; book/.thoir names with'.particulars of oc- . eupation,;!rosidflnce, wages, family,-circum-stances, and so forth. This examination be- w 'IS and,: of courso, briefly, concluded, and. Mr. .iChinchen being convinced that .the:patient:is unable to pay nn outside', doctor's fee,, he-hands ;over n' tic-' bearing tho name and age of the patient, and-tho dates of the period dnring which ho'may receivo treatment. The ticket | holds'^ood. for two mouths, and is renewable./;. The patient l shows it at the ticket , window, where he:pays a shilling. If the patient cannot afford a shilling,- a note from tho* secretary puts-that matter right. Tlio* ; patiout i'eceives a • metal ticket bearing: a , number. "With that in his--handy he sits 1 doWiiand waits until lie hears tho number , oalled from the consulting room. ■ - . Jfl® doctor does not kcop him long. There i is no time ,to discuss politics or the wiather: 1 Question, diagnosis, advice, treatniont, what- t ever.is. required) aro accomplished with bus- , messrliko dispatch. If a prescription is reguired,; the .doctor writes it in a book, which is rkopt:> at : the hospital ospecinllv for tho 8 individual: patient, who presents'it at the f dispensary, where ' tho prescription' is made , ■ iip.f;': . 'I From 40: to SO new out-patients come to. '' ' *ne,Hospital ..every .week. . /Tho number. '2 fluctuates, the weather being a powerful influence: "This is a healthy time of year, and n the numbers are their lowest. Mr. n , Ohinchen's last report showed' that there were 12,000 attendances during tho rear, each.-visit of each.patient being eounted'in. !., On -Friday the-.women appeared to bo more numerous than the /men. It was '?.wo- " men'S dayi'!./ That is to say, tho senior doc- )\ tor.'-saw tho vom6n> and his eollofigue ,the 11 men, : On Tuesdays tho arrangement is re- " versed; .it is men's day. Dr. Hartv, the lion. a J ophthalmic surgeon, attends at tlio Hospital ol propor :'ou Tuesdays and . Frtdavs to treat , out-patients .suffering from diseases of the °| '• eye,/nose, and throat. He has over tliirtv. al patients. . . . ■v ; , : - ' cl Tho /patients who 6ome to see Dr. Gilray - A and'/Dr./Patrick'are suffering from a very w wide, assortment of-the ills that flesh is heir to,:,a'iid.a very ffiw have practical?}-: nothing the,-'matter with thorn; but just think' they. don't feel well. Almost all of them get c ' ( fiome. heiiefij),,andrin tnost .cases, they, arc ™ . able; jafter a few attendances, to go to work 'I" ■instead or tho Hospital. The quiet dull rooniW-'.'rtro ' composed;- after all, Of pboplo who aro getting Veil.:', '/V,'/: 1'....",,. .. ... , i''i