Part 3

GENERAL SAWYER: “I am sure it must be gratifying to you to obtain a more intimate knowledge of the conduct of these affairs. I have pleasure in introducing to you Rear Admiral Edward R. Stitt, Surgeon General of the United States Navy, who will inform you as to ‘The Navy’s Part in the Hospitalization of the World War Veterans’.”

ADMIRAL STITT:

“The Medical Department of the Navy has been able to work with the Veterans’ Bureau along the following lines:

_First_: the turning over to the Public Health Service for the care of the Veterans of the World War of the Naval hospitals at Philadelphia, Pa., Cape May, N.J., Gulfport, Miss., and New Orleans, La. and quite recently to the Veterans’ Bureau itself of the hospital at Fort Lyon, Colo. used for tuberculosis patients. These institutions were completely equipped when transferred, so that no additional expense was involved. The hospital for tuberculous patients at Fort Lyon has been operated by naval personnel since November first, but this institution will be taken over by the Public Health Service on March 1st. With the great reduction in naval personnel and the discharge from the service of large numbers of the tuberculous, the needs of the Navy did not seem to justify the maintenance by the Navy of so large a hospital, there being at present 735 beds with possibilities of expansion. Upon his return from a recent inspection the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service expressed to me his admiration for the institution. We should not have been able to turn over this hospital had it not been for the generous offer of the Surgeon General of the Army to take care of the naval tuberculous at the Fitzsimmons General Hospital at Denver. The bed capacity of these five hospitals totaled 2229.

_Second_: The caring for the veteran patients in the same hospitals in which the sick of the Navy are being treated. In assigning accommodations to the patients of the Veterans’ Bureau there are many problem which complicate this matter. Manifestly it is necessary for the Navy to be prepared to receive the patients from its own personnel, and when it is considered that the fleet may at one time be in the port of New York and sending its sick to the New York Hospital during such time and then sail away for another port to then transfer its sick to another hospital the difficulties are apparent. If we could divide the ships between different ports and their sick between different hospitals the matter would be easy of adjustment.

Again we have only a limited number of beds in our three hospitals on the Pacific Coast and at the present time a large fleet is based on this station so that we are unable to offer accommodations in those hospitals to the Veterans’ Bureau and at the same time make adequate provision for the naval sick.

As a general rule we are only able to provide hospital facilities for general medical and surgical cases, but much of our work is in studying cases of suspected tuberculosis and where a positive diagnosis is made the determination of the extent of the process.

At Great Lakes, Ill. owing to the urgent needs of this section of the country, we have agreed to care for approximately 300 neuropsychiatric patients, this in addition to 300 beds for general patients. In order to obtain medical personnel trained in the supervision of such cases it was necessary to withdraw our psychiatric specialists from various stations where their services were needed, but it was felt that this was a greater need. To provide for additional men trained in this specialty we now have a number of young medical officers under training at St. Elizabeths Hospital.

The Navy is not only indebted to Doctor White for this service but it owes him obligations for his many years of instruction to the classes at our Naval Medical School. At the present time there are under consideration plans for the establishment under Doctor White of a school for the training of psychiatric personnel for other services caring for veterans, taking advantage of the abundant clinical material at St. Elizabeths.

At our hospital at Chelsea, Mass., we have been able to offer 539 beds to the Veterans’ Bureau and from the letters I receive, as well as from a personal inspection, I can attest the care that is there being given our veterans.

The Navy is particularly proud of its good food and I think our hospitals lead the Navy in this important service, which not only makes for contentment but aids convalescence. We have just agreed to receive the patients from the Polyclinic Hospital of New York and expect in a short time to be caring for approximately 350 patients in the naval hospital located in Brooklyn. We are very proud of the physio-therapy installation at this hospital, which has been pronounced by experts as one of the most complete equipments in the country.

In our hospital in Washington we are offering 250 beds. In this institution we are peculiarly well equipped for the diagnosis and treatment of obscure cases by reason of its association with the laboratories of the Naval Medical School. These naval hospitals are geographically so situated that large numbers of patients can be treated near their homes. Although most of our hospitals in our island possessions are small yet we can take care of a limited number of veterans who might be in such localities.

The mental environment at these hospitals is admirable from a standpoint of cheerfulness, amusement and when indicated occupational recreation, our rule has been so far as possible to treat veterans and sailors alike. To the Red Cross we owe much of the measures for contentment among the patients, although we also owe obligations to the morale division of the Navy Department for assistance along the lines of recreational and educational opportunities, especially as regards well conducted libraries. The number of beds now available in our hospitals approximates 2900. Adding the 2229 beds transferred to the Public Health Service makes approximately 5172.

_THIRD_ In the transfer to other agencies caring for veterans of hospital supplies and equipment. As noted previously we have turned over not only the beds of five hospitals but in addition surgical, X-Ray, laboratory and other facilities as well as store rooms full of varied supplies. In addition we have from time to time given various medical and surgical supplies. I may state that we are now turning over to the Public Health Service $1,375.00 worth of stock from our Supply Depot and stand ready to transfer another million dollars worth of medical stores when called for.

_FOURTH_ On board ship and at our various stations medical officers have examined claimants by the thousands, assisted them in making their applications and aided them with advice.

In the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery one of our most important activities is in supplying data to the Veterans’ Bureau for use in the adjudication of claims for compensation. The reports at present are more comprehensive than formerly made, and include in addition to the name, rank or rate and claim number, the date and place of birth, enlistment, discharge or release to inactive duty, together with a detailed medical history. The maximum number of reports sent out by the Bureau has been 250 in a day with an average daily completion of about 100 cases. At present we are up to date in answering claims. Notwithstanding the reduction of the clerical force in some divisions to the point of extinction of the activity in the effort to make the furnishing of records to the Veterans’ Bureau our first consideration we should have been far behind in furnishing records had it not been for the hearty and willing cooperation of the Veterans’ Bureau in assigning clerks from their own forces to assist in this most important and imperative work.

Where by reason of law or otherwise we have been unable adequately to provide for the veterans either in personnel or material Colonel Forbes has ever stood by to give us hearty cooperation and assistance. I am also indebted to General Sawyer, the Chief Coordinator of the Hospitalization Board for encouragement and advice whenever asked of him.

In reciting the activities of the Navy in providing hospital care for veterans, I trust it has become apparent that I have the honor to represent an organization, equipped to aid the Veterans’ Bureau in fulfilling the pledges of our government to its veterans, disabled in the Great War, and manned by a personnel actuated in all ranks by an earnest desire to contribute in the discharge of our obligations.”

GENERAL SAWYER: “I do not know exactly what impression you get from this information that is given out here by the heads of these great departments, but to me it seems that here is a spirit, a whole-souled determination to put everything at the command of the Government at your service to help you, that we may help the World War Veteran to the best that can be given. The recitation of these things by this Admiral and this Major General shows how much really comes through a closer affiliation,—how much we get that is worth the while from a better understanding; and that is what we really believe we have in this new Board of Hospitalization.

We have with us this morning the man who has been personally responsible for the largest number of these patients; in fact, he is responsible for more of these patients than all of the rest of the departments together; and if you do not know him, I should like to introduce to you a man whom I have found, by close contact and personal observation during the months I have been in Washington, to be a man who is giving everything within him to make of the Public Health Service of the United States of America the best Public Health Service in the world and to give to the World War veteran the best hospitalisation service that can be rendered.

I have pleasure in introducing to you Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming, of the United States Public Health Service, who will speak on the subject of “The Service Rendered World War Veterans by the Public Health Service.”

GENERAL CUMMING:

In presenting even a brief outline of the services which have been rendered, and are being rendered, to disabled veterans of the World War by the Public Health Service, it is necessary, for a proper comprehension of the subject, to state, at least in general terms, the genesis of the relationships which the Public Health Service has sustained, and now sustains, to this very important responsibility.

The Congress, before the close of the war, had given consideration to a comprehensive plan for the care of disabled veterans totally unlike the previously existing pension systems, and had passed legislation putting into effect this program.

In doing so, use was made of existing agencies rather than the creation of new ones. Among these existing agencies was the U. S. Public Health Service. This Service, on March 3, 1919, was given authority to furnish medical care and treatment to veterans, acting in this capacity as an agency of the War Risk Insurance Bureau. The Director of that Bureau was charged with the real responsibility, but was permitted, under the legislation, to make use of the Public Health Service in discharging his responsibility with regard to medical care and treatment.

Peace having come unexpectedly and demobilisation following shortly thereafter, the problem of the care for the disabled veteran became at once very pressing. The Public Health Service had under its control only a few hospitals, with a total bed capacity of about 1,500. The Director of the War Risk Insurance Bureau looked to the Public Health Service to supply him with the necessary medical services, and the Public Health Service, therefore, found itself faced with the task of supplying, in a short space of time, an extensive system of medical relief.

It undertook this problem and, under the legislation, sought to meet the responsibility in several ways. By the transfer to its jurisdiction of facilities used by the Army and Navy during the war, by the purchase of such facilities as were available and within the moderate appropriation, by the leasing of fairly suitable places and their conversion to hospital purposes, and by making contracts with civilian hospitals all over the United States for the care of veterans, this Service was able to furnish facilities with rapidity. These facilities were by no means always desirable, but at least it may be said that the Public Health Service was enabled to keep pace with the demand and to supply to all veterans who applied some form of hospital care and treatment.

The administrative organization, which had been formed under the law, for the care of veterans, included three bureaus, namely; the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and the Public Health Service. This organisation, while it was the best that could be formed under the circumstances, left a good deal to be desired, and was the cause of much criticism and no little dissatisfaction.

Matters became so urgent finally that, under the President’s direction, certain changes were made, and later, by act of Congress, even more radical changes were made, all with the ultimate tendency of concentrating in one organisation the entire responsibility for all matters affecting veterans of the World War. This culminated in the passage of legislation creating the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau and charging that Bureau with the full responsibility for all matters affecting veterans. (Aug. 19, 1921.)

In the legislation creating this Bureau, however, the Director of the Newly created Bureau was authorized, in giving hospital care and treatment to his beneficiaries, to make use of certain official agencies, and among these the Public Health Service, which at that time was carrying most of the medical work for veterans, and in fact this Service is still supplying by far the largest number of hospital beds for their care.

Under this new legislation, adjustments were made as rapidly as possible, and are still going on, with the result that the present situation of the Public Health Service in this responsibility is fairly clearly defined for the first time since it has undertaken this work.

The U. S. Veterans’ Bureau has now taken over, or will shortly take over, from the Public Health Service all of the responsibility and all of the work involved, with the exception of the operation of hospitals. The work taken over by the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau includes the entire responsibility for the operation of all outpatient departments for the care of veterans. Thus the Public Health Service is now left simply as a hospitalizing agency for the use of the Director of the Veterans’ Bureau.

The Public Health Service, therefore, stands in the same relationship to this work as other official agencies, namely; the National Homes for Volunteer Soldiers, the Army, the Navy, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital of the Interior Department. That is to say; it operates independently a system of hospitals for the use of the Director of the Veterans’ Bureau in the care of his beneficiaries. It has no responsibility with regard to meeting the demands for hospital facilities and it has no responsibility with regard to the distribution of patients to those hospitals. Its responsibility is limited simply to the operation of such hospitals as the Director desires, and, to the admission of such patients as he may desire to send to the same.

When the Public Health Service was suddenly charged with the large and important responsibility for supplying medical care and treatment to veterans of the World War, it proceeded at once to organize, on a commensurate scale, to meet a problem the character of which was unknown and the magnitude of which could only be surmised.

The first and greatest problem faced by the Public Health Service was, of course, to determine as soon as possible the character and the magnitude of this problem. In conjunction with the War Risk Insurance Bureau, there was compiled and finally published a public document (481 of the 66th Congress, December 5, 1919). In this document, this entire problem was analyzed, and certain very definite conclusions were stated as to the need for medical and surgical facilities for the proper care and treatment of discharged disabled veterans.

It is unnecessary at this time to attempt any analysis of this document, but it is worthy of some comment. It indicated that within two years from the date of its publication there would be needed for patients of the War Risk Insurance Bureau 7,200 beds for general medical and surgical cases, 12,400 beds for tuberculous cases, and 11,060 for neuropsychiatry cases, making a total of 30,660 beds.

Recommendations in this document were made for the expenditure of a large sum of money for necessary construction, and a draft of a bill was offered which would appropriate the money for this purpose. The bill contemplated that this money should be expended in annual installments, extending over a period ending June 30, 1923. This document also indicated that the peak of the load, at least for neuropsychiatric and tuberculous disorders, would not be reached for some years.

The conclusions reached in this document were the subjects of a good deal of criticism. It was rather generally felt that the facilities which had been provided during the war for the medical care and treatment of soldiers and sailors could be made use of very readily and very satisfactorily in the care of discharged disabled soldiers and sailors at the termination of the war.

It was not clearly appreciated that the war program for the care of sick and disabled could, by no means, be converted into an adequate and satisfactory system of hospitals for the care of sick and disabled persons under peace conditions. At all events, no money was appropriated for purposes of constructing hospital facilities until March 4, 1921.

It is highly significant at the present time to note that the needs foreshadowed in this public document have, since the date of its publication, been more or less verified by subsequent experiences.

Making due allowances for discrepancies, which might have been expected, and for developments, which could not have been readily foreseen, it may be truthfully said that this document indicated quite clearly and more or less accurately the hospital needs for the care of sick and disabled ex-service men and women, if these patients were to receive the character of medical service which, in the judgment of the best medical minds, was necessary for their restoration to health and which could not be satisfactorily given in other than suitably constructed institutions.

Leaving aside these considerations, it was apparent that, when the Public Health Service was charged with responsibility, it was immediately necessary to meet the urgent demands suddenly created by the termination of the war.

The Public Health Service, in the manner indicated above, attempted, therefore, to formulate and put into execution a temporary program for the purpose of meeting immediate needs, leaving a permanent program to be developed in accordance with the appropriations and legislation.

Without going into any more detail, it will suffice to state in very general terms the work which the Public Health Service has done in this connection and which it is still doing.

Since the inception of the work, it has created a hospital system of considerable magnitude, and is now operating some 68 hospitals, with a total bed capacity of over 21,000, and expects, within the more or less near future, to open additional hospitals and increase present facilities by something less than 5,000 additional beds.

This Service now has under its care about 13,500 veterans of the World War in its hospitals. In addition to this, it is also caring for 3,000 to 4,000 Federal beneficiaries, with whose care and treatment it has long been charged, making a total of nearly 17,000 hospital patients under its care at the present time.

In the development of this hospital system, the Public Health Service has divided its hospitals into three large groups, namely; hospitals for general medical and surgical cases, for cases of tuberculosis, and for cases of neuropsychiatry. It has been unable to develop this system of hospitals with the uniformity desirable under the circumstances, and has, therefore, found difficulty in meeting the needs of those suffering from neuropsychiatric and tuberculous disorders. This demand, however, has of late been far more adequately met, especially with regard to tuberculosis.

In addition to the development of its hospital system, the Public Health Service, soon after assuming its responsibilities in this work, created what was designated as the District Supervisors’ organization. The United States was divided into fourteen districts and, in some large center of population in each of these districts, there was established a district headquarters, with a sub-district organization reaching out even to the individual counties.

This organisation constituted a decentralizing agency, and, as such, served a most useful and important function, not only in the work of the Public Health Service, but also in the work of the War Risk Insurance Bureau. This entire organization, which had grown enormously, was transferred to the Bureau of War Risk Insurance in April, 1921, with its complete personnel. It is now operated by the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau as its decentralizing agency and is still performing a necessary and important function in the work of that Bureau.

It was also necessary to create a greatly extended purveying service for supplying the necessary equipment, etc., to the hospital system which had been inaugurated. The Purveying Service has grown enormously and, at the present time, is not only purveying to the hospitals of this Service, but is also rendering assistance to the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau in purveying for its offices and its medical facilities.

The creation of an Inspection Service also became a necessity, in order that the hospitals of this Service might be kept under constant surveillance, and that all complaints might be carefully investigated. This Inspection Service has now been reduced somewhat, but still is functioning satisfactorily and has also rendered a great deal of assistance to the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau in making certain inspections for that Bureau.

In addition to these matters, the Public Health Service also began the creation of a large system of out-patient dispensaries for the care of veterans of the World War and developed this work considerably. Up to recently, it had in operation some 58 of these dispensaries, many of them equipped and staffed for all forms of out-patient diagnosis and treatment.

The development of this dispensary system was a matter of supreme importance in furnishing the medical examinations of veterans required for the purpose of establishing their compensation ratings. This entire Service, as stated, is about to be turned over to the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau and will, in future, be operated by them.

In carrying out all of this work, the Public Health Service has, of necessity, been obliged to assemble a large personnel. The personnel at the present time is somewhat less than it has been previously, by reason of the transfer of certain activities to the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau, but, with the anticipated opening of many new hospitals and the increase of its facilities, this personnel must, of necessity, slowly increase.