USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume II > Part 18
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example of the deed. There is an appropriate lesson in the citizenship which limits only the source from which it draws and leaves unlimited that to which it gives.' Mr. Roosevelt was referring, of course, to the fact that Montefiore Hospital extends its service to all, regardless of race or creed. It has always been, and we hope always will be, a non-sectarian institution.
"The opening of the County Sanatorium at Bedford Hills marks the beginning of the third epoch of Montefiore. The fourth epoch was foreshadowed by Mr. Schiff shortly after the hospital had celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in the fall of 1909. At the annual meeting of that year, he broached the project of removing the hospital to the outskirts of the city, where it could be more spaciously housed and where, in consequence, it could accommodate a larger number of those who were seeking admission. Mr. Schiff's suggestion led to the pur- chase of the present site. Within thirty days, subscriptions to the building fund reached the substantial sum of $875,000, which, together with the proceeds of the sale of the old hospital property, gave the Directors nearly $1,500,000 with which to defray the cost of construc- ting a new plant. The beautiful buildings which we now occupy were based upon the plans of Dr. Siegfried Wachsmann, who for eighteen years filled the post of Medical Director of the hospital, with credit to himself and to the institution. But even this latest step, like every step that had preceded, was only a prelude to another. The Directors of the hospital during the past year have signalized the institution's fortieth anniversary by subscribing $450,000 toward a fund for entirely rebuilding the Country Sanatorium. To this sum has been added with- in the last few days a contribution of $20,000 from the Lyman G. Bloomingdale Foundation, as a memorial to Mr. Bloomingdale, who was the first Chairman of our County Sanatorium Committee.
"One of the most important factors in the development of Montefiore Hospital has been the Ladies' Auxiliary Society. Organized in 1885 as a sewing society, it has gradually widened its activities until it has become one of the most helpful agencies in the management and growth of the institution. Without the Ladies' Auxiliary Society Montefiore Hospital would not be what it is today. The ladies are our severest critics, our readiest assistants, and our most valuable allies. In the winter of 1885 the Young Ladies' and Gentlemen's League of Monte- fiore Hospital was organized under the leadership of Mr. Lucien L. Bonheur. During the first year of the League's existence it added $10,000 to the income of the institution, and was for many years a significant influence in the life of the hospital. I regret that the limi- tations of time do not permit me to tell you in detail of the splendid gifts that on various occasions have been presented to the hospital. The Private Pavilion, since converted into a nurses' home, is the bene-
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faction of Messrs. Jacob H. Schiff, Ferdinand Sulzberger, Samuel Sachs, and S. R. Guggenheim. Opened in 1916, it was shortly thereafter placed at the disposal of the Government for the duration of the war. It was returned to us in 1920 and used as a private pavilion until last year, when, with the permission of the generous donors or their heirs, it was changed into one of the best equipped and most attractive homes for nurses attached to any hospital in this city. The Schiff Pavilion, designed for patients who, while no longer requiring active medical treatment, remain more or less helpless, is the last of many gifts from our late President, Mr. Schiff. It is an enduring memorial to his magnificent generosity and his unwavering interest in the institution.
"From the very beginning this hospital has taken an enlightened attitude towards its patients. Its founders and their successors recog- nized the important fact that not all persons suffering from chronic diseases need the same type of institutional care. There are many whose illness is complex and progressive and who require the most expert medical and nursing attention. There are others in whom the disease has run its course but has left the patient with a permanent physical handicap which makes it difficult for his family to care for him in his home. In the past it was customary to call all these patients 'incurables' and to establish for them institutions which considered their duty well done if they provided food and a bed and such aid as could be furnished for their personal wants. The use of the term 'in- curable' is in itself a reflection upon the attitude of the community. No patient may rightly be called incurable until every method for his rehabilitation has been thoroughly tried. The policy of Montefiore Hospital has always been to provide not merely custodial care, but also, and especially, hospital service for the treatment and, as is hoped, for the improvement and even the cure of those suffering from so-called chronic diseases. Montefiore Hospital from its inception had attracted to its staff some of the leading physicians of New York City, who have carried on important studies at the institution. The first president of our Medical Board was Dr. Simon Baruch, who was also the first man in this country to recognize the value of hydrotherapy or the scientific application of water in the treatment of chronic diseases. For many years Montefiore Hospital was the only institution in the United States which was prepared to give this form of therapy. The hospital was visited by leading clinicians from many cities who came to study under Dr. Baruch. The value of this treatment is indicated by the fact that hydrotherapy now forms an essential part of the equipment of every up-to-date hospital in the country. In 1899 Dr. Alfred Meyer was appointed visiting physician to the Country Sanatorium. The med- ical development of the sanatorium and its high professional standing are largely due to his indefatigable labors. Dr. Meyer served actively
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on the visiting staff of the sanatorium for twenty-one years. In 1921 he retired from active service but remains with us an honored member of our consulting staff.
"Among the many distinguished physicians who have since passed away but who, during their lifetime, freely gave their services to the hospital, were Doctors Isaac Adler, Alfred Loomis, Joseph Frankel, Henry Janeway and Abraham Jacobi. They and their colleagues will always live in the annals of Montefiore Hospital. On the fortieth an- niversary, let us pay tribute to their unselfish work for suffering human- ity in these lines of George Eliot :
. . Those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirr'd to generosity, In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn For miserable aims that end with self, In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, And with their mild persistence urge man's search To vaster issues.
"Montefiore has also been fortunate in those friends who have been called into its councils. Among those who have served it well are the bearers of such distinguished names as Leonard Lewisohn, Louis Gans, Isaac Eppinger, Myer S. Isaacs, Lyman G. Bloomingdale, Ferdinand Sulzberger, Julius Robertson, Isidor Straus, V. Henry Rothschild, Henry S. Herrman, Lewis S. Wolff, Jacob Rossbach, and many others. But the outstanding figure in the organization and growth of Monte- fiore Hospital will always be Jacob H. Schiff, and when the history of this institution comes to be written, it will revolve around his wise guidance, his able mind, and his brilliant. personality. If, as Emerson has said, 'an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man,' then Montefiore Hospital is the lengthened shadow of Jacob H. Schiff. To it he gave a full measure of service and devotion from the moment of its organization in 1884 to the day of his death. No one not intimately associated with the institution can begin to appreciate the thought and attention which he lavished upon this hospital. It is related of Robert Bruce, the great Scottish chieftain, that when he lay upon his dying bed, he requested that after his death his heart be taken from his body and carried to the tomb of Christ at Jerusalem, at that period the goal of every Christian warrior. After the death of Bruce, James, Earl of Douglas, undertook the sacred mission and placing the heart in a silver casket, he set out, accompanied by a few of his trusted followers, for the Holy Land. On the way there, they were beset by many perils and difficulties, all of which they overcame, until at length they were sur- rounded by a large body of Moors, and overcome by superior numbers, were being rapidly driven back, when Douglas, taking the casket from
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his bosom, flung it far out into the oncoming host, crying : 'Lead on, O heart of Bruce, and we will follow thee!' And the Scottish chieftains, never defeated while Bruce was in the lead, pressed on and won the day.
"And so, we who have taken up the work where Mr. Schiff laid it down, can render no greater service than to emulate the example which he set. We can have no better guiding star than his indomitable spirit, to which we may well say, 'Lead on and we will follow.'"
The report of the Medical Director of Montefiore Hospital was in part as follows: "During the year 1924 a number of steps were taken to strengthen the clinical services. The most important of these is the fusion of the cancer division with the surgical division, and the estab- lishment of a separate department of radiotherapy. In the present state of medical knowledge cancer is still essentially a surgical condi- tion; and since many surgical procedures must be invoked in the care of these patients, it seemed most fitting that the clinical work on the cancer service be coordinated with that of the general surgical service under the direction of the chief of the surgical division. The details of organization may be found in the report of Dr. H. Neuhof, Chief of the Surgical Division. Worthy of emphasis is the close cooperation that has been established with the Medical Division in the care of certain of the cancer cases. With the growth of the clinical activities of the institution, it seemed desirable that radiotherapy instead of being con- fined as heretofore to the cancer division, be placed at the disposal of all the clinical services in the hospital; for radiotherapy is of value in a great variety of clinical conditions. With this point in view, an in- dependent department of radiotherapy has been established which will direct the radium and X-ray treatments of patients in all divisions of the hospital.
"There have been a number of changes in personnel. Dr. Isaac Levin resigned after eleven years of service. In this period he developed and organized the Cancer Division and brought it to a high state of effi- ciency, and it is fitting to make formal acknowledgment of his faithful and able service. Dr. Julius Gottesman, Associate surgeon, has been placed in charge of the cancer service, under the general direction of Dr. Neuhof. Dr. Maurice Lenz has been appointed associate in charge of radiotherapy (1925). Dr. Lenz has had quite an exceptional train- ing and experience both in this country and abroad and will, we hope, prove a very valuable addition to the medical staff. Physiotherapy is a very important agent in the treatment of patients with chronic dis- eases. From its early days Montefiore Hospital has been one of the leaders in this field. It was the first institution in the United States to install a complete hydrotherapeutic equipment (1899). For many years the department of hydrotherapy, under Dr. Simon Baruch, served as a model and inspiration for similar instalments in other hospitals.
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With the move to the present buildings in 1913 a physiotherapeutic department, complete in all its branches and unrivaled as to equipment, was provided. Successful physiotherapy, however, must be carried on under the immediate direction of a physician who has had special training in this field. The adequate supervision of the large number of treatments that are given daily in our department demand the full time of a physician in constant attendance. Until this past year lack of funds has prevented the employment of a full-time physiotherapist. The establishment of this position in 1924 marks a real step in advance. We were very fortunate in obtaining the services of Dr. A. Lux, who has had considerable experience and exceptional training in this specialty."
"The neuropathological laboratory is in full operation and has al- ready demonstrated its fundamental value to the neurological division. The development of the work in this laboratory, together with the unique and rich neurological material on the wards should serve to place the neurological division in the front rank of neurological in- stitutions in this country. In the tuberculosis division real progress has been made in coordinating the professional work at Bedford and at the city institution under the guidance of Dr. M. Fishberg. Dr. Fishberg visits both institutions and two of the adjunct physicians on the tuber- culosis division have been assigned to Bedford for a term of six months. Weekly conferences are held in the city institution which are attended by Dr. Folkoff and the members of his staff. Following Dr. Stivel- man's resignation, Dr. Caspar Folkoff, who had been resident phys- ician on the medical division, was appointed medical superintendent of Bedford. Dr. Folkoff has shown a ready grasp of the many adminis- trative and professional problems at the country sanatorium and has been cooperating with Dr. Fishberg to promote a unification of the tuberculosis service at the sanatorium and in the city. Such a close integration of the clinical material, consisting of 356 patients in the two institutions, offers unique possibilities for the study of tuberculosis in all its stages.
St. Francis' Hospital-This hospital is situated, as before noted, at East 142nd Street and St. Ann's Avenue, in The Bronx. The Medical and Surgical staff is as follows: Physician-in-Chief, John Dorning, M. D .; Consulting Physicians, Frank E. Miller, M. D., Charles M. Cauld- well, M. D .; Fritz Schwyzer, M. D .; Consulting Surgeons, Fred Kam- merer, M. D .; Samuel Lloyd, M. D., John Rogers, M. D .; Visiting Phy- sicians, Thomas F. McParlan, M. D., John E. Shrady, M. D., Francis L. Donlon, M. D., Arthur R. Braunlich, M. D., Edward C. Podvin, M. D. Visiting Surgeons, Francis C. Edgerton, M. D., Walter C. Cramp, M. D. Then follow : John P. McParlan, M. D., Electro-Therapeutist ; Fred H.
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Dillingham, M. D., Dermatologist; John B. Lynch, M. D., Ophthalmolo- gist ; M. J. Schwerd, M. D., Laryngologist; J. J. MacPhee, M. D., Neurol- ogist ; Robert Lewis, M. D., Orthopedist; John S. Richards, M. D., Roent- genologist; Leo T. Perrault, M. D., Oto-rhinologist. Assistant visiting physicians are : William E. Howley, M. D., Walter A. Dunckel, M. D., Henry G. Schweitzer, M. D., Charles G. Herbermann, M. D. Assistant visiting surgeons : Anthony H. Harrigan, M. D., James Coughlan, M. D .; Pathologist, Ray S. Nelson; resident physicians, Henry F. Spickschen, M. D., Sebastian Lang, M. D. The house staff in 1925 was as follows: Thomas A. Bray, M. D., Kenneth C. Forsyth, M. D., Harold Nebel, M. D., Frank C. Clement, M. D., Maynard A. Buck, M. D., John S. Snedacker, M. D., John F. Wilkinson, M. D., Clifford G. Swift, M. D., William F. Burke, M. D., Collis B. Clifton, M. D.
The fiftieth annual report gives something of the history of the hospital. It says in part : "It may surprise many of the friends of the institution to learn that on May 1, 1915, the hospital completed the first half century of its existence, the event passing quietly, and with- out any public demonstration, befitting the spirit of the Order. A brief review of the history of the Order showing its steady development may not be out of place at this time. Founded by the late Mother Francis Schervier, at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1845, the Order grew rapidly in the esteem of the people among whom its members worked. In 1851 they received the official sanction of the Church, and thereafter, their progress was so rapid that within a few years they had acquired by purchase a convent in Aix-la-Chapelle to be used as a mother house, and had established branches at Mayence, Coblenz, Kaiserwerth, Krefeld, Eus- kirchen and Eschweiler."
The sphere of usefulness of the Order was, however, not to be lim- ited by the seas, for on August 10, 1858, only thirteen years after the birth of the Order, at the solicitation of Mrs. Sarah Peter, an aged widow of Cincinnati, Ohio, five Sisters and a postulant set out on their journey to establish a new congregation in America. By the end of the following year a hospital, of no mean dimensions, was opened and ded- icated in Cincinnati. Since that time, through their zeal, "seventeen institutions have been founded in the United States, making a total of sixty-nine houses, here and in Europe, controlled by the Order. To establish and maintain this number of hospitals without endowment of any kind has been a task of great magnitude and exemplifies the true Christian devotion of these zealous and noble women."
"The history of St. Francis' Hospital, in New York City, dates back to early in the year 1865 and its upbuilding is so characteristic of the methods of the Sisters of this Order that one may be pardoned for going a little into detail" remarks the fiftieth annual report. "In response to a petition from the Redemptorist Fathers and parishioners
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of the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, in Third Street, the estab- lishment of the hospital was undertaken. In the spring of 1865, two small dwelling houses on Fifth Street, east of Avenue B, were pur- chased for $17,500, of which $10,000 was loaned to the Sisters by several Catholic societies, without interest, for one year, the remainder being raised on mortgage. To these houses, totally empty and un- furnished, came on May 1, 1865, one Sister and a postulant from St. Peter's Hospital, Brooklyn. They had no means whatever and no financial support, but simply willing hands and stout hearts, and that firm belief in a divine Providence and confidence in the generosity of the people, which have ever been the strong staff of these Sisters. The loaf of bread that the postulant brought was their sole food supply for the first day, and the empty straw tick that each carried, after being filled with straw by a friendly undertaker in the neighborhood, was the only furnishing for their humble quarters.
"In a short time, however, sufficient money and the necessary utensils had been collected in the vicinity to allow of their being joined by four Sisters from Cincinnati, and by this little group of pioneers the two houses were re-arranged, furnished and opened as St. Francis Hospital, with a capacity of about fifty beds. The formal dedication took place on October 4, 1865, although quite a while before this patients had been received. The story of the difficulties and discouragements experienced by these Sisters, who were the first to appear in public here in their religious garb to solicit alms, is most pathetic, interesting and instruc- tive. The public failed to understand, even as they do now to some degree, that the Sisters had voluntarily cut themselves off from every other source of revenue, and that the alms they received was the only means of support for themselves as well as for their patients. One can imagine some scepticism in the view taken by practical New Yorkers of an Order soliciting benefactions for a hospital where there were already several hospitals, well equipped and heavily endowed. But uncomplainingly, and with true Christian fortitude, the Sisters continued their begging from door to door, regardless of the many rebuffs, accusations of being impostors, and of even being haled before the Magistrate. For a better understanding of this great devotion of the Sisters of the poor we turn to 'A Sketch of the Life and Character of Mother Francis Schervier,' by the Very Reverend Ignatius Jeiler, O. S. F., D. D., in which is given the Constitution of the Order, and learn that 'the Sisters shall have nothing of their own in the world, nor shall they desire anything.' 'Go sell what thou hast and give to the poor,' they are told. Hence, from their love of poverty the Sisters are styled 'Sisters of the poor,' not because they are for the poor, 'but be- cause they themselves are to be poor, alike in everything unto these.' 'The congregation is to have nothing beyond the necessities of life and
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maintenance. As an organization they have obtained civic rights of corporation only for the purpose of acquiring and occupying land and buildings necessary for their use as homes and hospitals. These houses they do regard as their property, but use them only for the purposes for which they took possesion of them. It is prescribed that they shall have no fixed income, whether from the proceeds of real estate or from investments.'
"The Sisters are exhorted to collect alms willingly. 'This is to be done in the spirit of St. Francis, in token of their poverty, and for the exercise of humility, but with perfect decorum and due regard for cir- cumstances.' Fulfilling the injunction of St. Francis, they shall 'consider themselves as pilgrims and strangers in the world, serving the Lord in poverty and humility, confidently questing alms, and not ashamed thereat, because our Lord became poor in this world on our account.' The sick poor have the first claim on their services. In addition 'the Sisters shall also take care of poor abandoned girls, in order to protect them from dangers, to educate them to a Christian life and to form them in industrious habits.' The records of the institution further show that from the modest beginning of fifty beds in 1865, through the un- remitting assiduity of these Christian women, the work steadily and rapidly progressed. In the following year a house on Sixth Street was bought and presented to the Sisters. This they devoted to the aged and infirm. In 1869 three adjacent houses on Fifth Street were pur- chased and the erection of the first wing of a large and permanent hospital was begun, and completed and opened the following year. In 1871, another house was secured, and a second wing, containing a chapel and operating rooms was begun. In October of the succeeding year, 1872, this was finished and opened, giving the hospital a capacity of 150 beds. From time to time additional property was acquired, until in 1884 the convent part of the structure was built, affording additional room for the great number of sick poor clamoring for admission, and increasing the number of beds to 280.
"The popularity of the hospital increased with the passing of time, and after some years of struggling to meet the ever-increasing demands upon its resources it became apparent that, to provide better facilities to meet its widening sphere of usefulness, and to keep pace with the general uptown movement of the population of the city, a new and larger institution was necessary. Consequently the Sisters, with their tremendous earnestness and boundless energy, succeeded in 1901 in acquiring the plot of ground bounded by One Hundred and Forty- second and One Hundred and Forty-third streets, and Brook and St. Ann's avenues, and erected the present new St. Francis Hospital. Ground was broken the same year, and the corner-stone laid on Decem- ber 8, 1902. On March 1, 1906, the new institution was dedicated by
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His Eminence (then Archbishop) John M. Farley, and on the fifteenth day of the month the wards, cheerfully, comfortably and newly furnish- ed, were thrown open for the reception of patients. The new buildings are substantial and of dignified appearance, although devoid of all ornamentation, as befits the spirit of the Order. The main building faces One Hundred and Forty-second Street, and has a frontage of 326 feet by a depth of 107 feet at the wings. It contains eighteen large wards, several smaller ones and about forty private rooms. From time to time improvements have been added, in the way of pathological and X-ray laboratories, etc., to keep pace with the scientific advances of the day. The Sisters' house, 120x54 feet, contains in the lower floors the commodious and well-equipped kitchen, store-rooms and accessories. In the upper floors are the quarters for the Sisters.
"Between the main hospital building and the Sisters' house is a beautiful chapel, 48x80 feet. The building for stables and male help, the laundry and house for female help, the boiler house, engine room, morgue and the recently-built staff house, occupy most of the remain- ing space on the block. The buildings are supplied with modern systems of plumbing, heating, lighting and ventilation, placing them on a footing with the best institutions of the class in the city. They are a substantial and, we trust, an enduring monument to the devotion and self-sacrifice of the Sisters and to the liberality of their patrons. With the opening of the new hospital the active general service in the old institution on Fifth Street was discontinued. The old hospital, though, having been extensively reconstructed and fitted with many modern improvements, making it comfortable and homelike is now known as St. Francis' Home, and is used as an annex to the new St. Francis' Hospital for the care of chronic and incurable cases. Its capacity is always taxed to its uttermost, with a long list of applicants awaiting admission. During the year 1925 additional construction and equipment has been added for the housing of the nurses. On the last pages of our report will be found a fairly complete roster of the physicians and surgeons, a few of whom show records of over a quarter of a century, who have given their service, and in some instances even their lives, in advancing the interests of the hospital. Unfortunately the early medical records of the institution are rather incomplete. The first annual report was for the year 1867. There was no definite organization of the Medical Staff until 1876. In that year a Medical Board was organized and the medical affairs of the institution were continued under its management until the opening of the present new hospital in The Bronx in 1906. The Provincial Superior at that time acting upon her conviction, born of a long and ripe experience in hospital government, that the interests of an institution shall be best served by the centralization of responsi- bility, delegated the management of its medical affairs to the present
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