The Wanganui (Chronicle. FRIDAY (SEPTEMBER 21, 1945. SITE FOR T.B. HOSPITAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 224, 21 September 1945, Page 4

The Wanganui (Chronicle. FRIDAY (SEPTEMBER 21, 1945. SITE FOR T.B. HOSPITAL

IT is unfortunate that the site for the proposed sanitorium for the treatment of tuberculosis patients should have become a bone of contention. It was with a view to avoiding such a circumstance that the subject has been treated only in a general way by the “Chronicle.'’ In the only article yet published the “Chronicle” has satisfied itself with stressing that the only point to be given consideration is the provision of the maximum of benefit for the patients.

The question before the authorities is not what centre shall have the sanitorium. but where a sanitorium can achieve the best curative results. All other considerations fade into insignificance beside that essential factor.

It does not. matter much where the institution is placed so long as it is of the maximum efficiency. If Wanganui is not a desirable locus for the institution then by all means let it not be erected here. There will be no local heartburnings on the point. If, on the other hand, any other place is undesirable then it. is equally desirable that it shall not be located there. The question to be decided is whether there is to be found in the district concerned a locality which, faking all factors into consideration, can be deemed pre-eminently suitable for the purpose of establishing a sanitorium.

What are the factors which make a locality satisfactory for this especial purpose" In most countries it is found that a locality which is high and dry is generally regarded as more satisfactory than any other. In New Zealand, however, the high country is generally the wettest and its constitution is such that usually the rainfall is retained on the highland. The drier country is usually 1o be found on the coastal strip where, beneficial winds abound and the sandy soil makes for dry terrain. Palmerston North has plenty of wind, but it is both cold and damp, which conditions handicap it as a sanitorium centre. Foxton would probably be a better site than Palmerston Nbrth for such a hospital, but Foxton would be objected to on another ground, that of relative inaccessibility.

The nature of the site is but one factor in the suitability of a locality for a sanitorium. Patients are not machines to be adjusted: they are human beings with human feelings and affections and emotions, and these elements within the patient must be considered if the maximum of good is to be achieved in each individual ease. For instance, if it was found that within the mountain ranges of the North Island a suitable site could be found which, as a site, surpassed all others, it might still he undesirable to place an institution there because of the ill-effects of isolation upon the patients. Men and women going to a lonely spot where they would feel themselves cut off from the world would consider themselves doomed, and this mental attitude would be accentuated by fne absence of visitors during the patient ’s stay in the institution. A depressed state of mind would result and this would place the patient under a. handicap in making a recovery. As a suitable site in the mountains is not to be found the question of isolation does not present itself in any acute form. Accessibility is, nevertheless, an important element to be given its due weight. Other things being equal, the geographical centre of the district to be served would be the ideal situation, and provided the transportation and other services are adequate to and from that centre there is every reason for choosing it. In practice the geographical centre does not mean the geometrical centre but it does mean the centre for all practical purposes. While the City of Wanganui would not be the. most desirable spot for the location of a sanitorium because of the absence of winds and the presence of a river in the area, the Wanganui district does contain terrain which is suitable from Ihe standpoint of location within the district to be served, accessible to patients and their visitors, sufficiently wind-swept and open to the sunshine, and naturally drained to give a good dry. healthy, sandy soil. All these advantages do not appear to he available elsewhere, and certainly not at Palmerston North. If there are better sites to he made available for this specific, purpose, all the important factors being given due consideration, then Wanganui will have no compunction in advocating that those sites be considered. It is, however, essential that only sites better than those availably in the immediate vicinity of 'Wanganui city shall be considered. It would be unfortunate indeed if inferior sites were to be considered and the issues to become involved with less relevant factors.

The best judges of a site for the especial purpose of establishing a sanitorium are those who will be responsible for its working and for the results which the institution will obtain. It would be as well if the medical superintendents and the Public Health Department officers were to report, not on specially chosen sites 1o the exclusion of more desirable sites hut on where the most desirable locality is situated and upon the available sites within that locality. The question of “local politics” should not be allowed to intrude into that matter. In this the interest of the patients must remain paramount.