? LETTERS *
DISAGREES WITH EDITORIAL"
Dear Mr. Editor:
Your editorial in last week's Press i "The High Cost of Be
ing Hick", issue of June 24 1 was unieiy, tiuugnt stimulating,
aiiu honest. 1 read it with interest. 1 am glad you wi'ute il.
i>ul 1 disagree with almost everything you said x am uivau
mg dangeious territory by entering your Iie'ld to snow where
1 ihinu yju are in error.
Illness is expensive, whether treated or not, and the cost of
hospitalization has increased luce everything eise. uusptUii
rates are o.ten compared unfavorably with tnose ol notei*.
and it is natuial lor Uie uiwoi lunate patient to be oilier about
expense wnicll he old not ciiuOse lj Incur, but few people stop
to consider that the well run hospital has one and one-nan
tunes as many employes as beds available for patients, thai a
large number oi ihesc are proiessiotials who have had long
and expensive preparation lor their work, tha't It must be
prepared to handle emergencies at all hours, and that in the
least busy limes Ihere is an alert staff on duty and a much
larger group on call.
'ine notei uses a great deal of linen but the hospital must
ollen change all linen many times per day for one patient.
The hotel prepares food lor healthy people, while the hospital
must tempi tneir weakened appetites as well as provide the
diets demanded by their particular health needs, and serve
them in bed. The, hotel provides a furnished room and leaves
the customer alone, when he rings for service he pays the
hotel and tips the waiter, but the hospitalized patient rings
duzi.is ol times each day and rightly experts and frequently
demands quick personal attention by a professional at no
extra cost. There is no service in the notel thai corresponds to
the lrequent, unrequesled observation, day and nignt by trained
nurses who are oiten able to see needs and supply services
beure the palient himsell becomes aware of them, and the
hotel has no expensive analagous to the provision of sterile,
chemically pure solutions ana medicines, slerile instruments
and linen, etc., jpr the operating and treatment rooms, x-ray,
physiotherapy machines, equipment for oxygen administra
t.uii, laboratory examinations and the thousand and one other
tilings that tne layman usually thinks of only when he sees I
them in use.
me ligures you gave ior indigent patients piuuuuiy icpic
seuted the entire average cost tor bed, nursing and medical
care, medicines* laboratory examinations, x-ray, anesthesia,
operating room lees and various incidental services and does
not. seeni exorbitant, especially when it is considered that the
patient stays in the hospital less and less time as improve
ments in services and medicines are developed. The individual
who pays his own way prolits by these improvements, too,
and he only pays an itemized bill for, the services he receives
and at a fixed rate.
Hospital care is expensive, but home care requires the time
of members of the lamily which is often as cosily when it
takes them away from productive work, and almost invariably
is less efficient in meeting the needs or the sick. The hospital
record in the patient's chart lurnishes the doctor a quickly
availaole fund of information on the progress 01 the illness
and is kept lor reference when the patient is reaamitted in
the sume or in anoiner hospital, while the doctor who treats
a case at home must depend on isolated, incomplete examina
tions and his memory which is usually cluttered with facts
about lilty other patients under treatment at the same time.
An illness severe enough to confine a person to bed is sel
dom simple enough to be understood by tne uoctor who makes
occasional visas and does an alledged examination in the
presence of a gioup of interested spectators. Under such con
ditions the patient cannot nope to pr?nt oy impiovements in
medical practice, anu the beat economy wuald seem to be to
shorten the Illness as luuch us pu.*>?oie and letuin the patient
to work in good condition in the least time.
You spoke of the shortage of nurses, doctors and hospital
beds, una it is my observation that the need lor uiese three
is greater than is realized by any of us. It is physically im
possiOiu .or me present number of doctors to see all the pa
tients w no need attention and the job is still more unreason
able wiicii hs must spend a large part 01 his time going from
one end of a county to the other between calls.
In me last half-century the average length of life has been
Inci eased by aoout fifty per cent and progress in treatment
of uisease and injury is greater now than ever before. It
would seem reasonable to make no radical changes in the
methods responsible for this advance until it can be definitely
shown that there is a better way.
Very truly yours,
Sylva, N. C? T. D. SLAGLE, M. D.
June 30, 1948.
NOW OPEN TO
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
This is important news to every young man from 2(V'n to 28
who ha9 graduated from high school or who can pass equiva
lent education examinations. Under a new ruling, you may
now enlist in the I'. S. Ariny for the specific purpose of attend
ing Officer Candidate School, provided the quotas are not
filled.
You must he a citizen of the United States, and a man of
high moral character, able to meet the necessary physical
requirements.
To take advantage of this unusual privilege, you may sub-,
mit your application to the Commanding General of the
Army area in which you live. If you are selected, you will lie
enlisted in the Army as Staff Sergeant. If you have not had
basic training or its equivalent, you w ill lx given this training
before entering Officer Candidate School.
If you are a successful candidate, you will be commissioned
as Second Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps and placed
on active duty for two years, during which time you may
compete for a Regular Army Commission. Should you fail
to complete the course successfully, you will be released from
the Army.
The opportunity to qualify for Officer Candidate School is,
and has been, open to men in the Army. But never before
during peacetime has such a reinaikable opportunity to be
come a commissioned officer
heen open to civilian high
?chool graduates. Get all the
facta about it today at your
U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force
Recruiting Station.
CAREERS WITH A fUTURC
II. S. Army
ON SQUAB*
ARMY RECRUITING STATION
lu ? OFFICE
NEWS
about
PEOPLE
I 'ersonal Mention
Steve Frazier, of Mount Ver
j lion, Wash., is here to spend a
| lew days with his brother Van
Frazier, his sister, Mrs. Pearl
Ledbetter, both of Fran Klin,
Route 1, and other relatives. Mr.
Frazier went to Washington to
make his home about 1U years
ago. He was here on a visit
two years ago.
Mrs. Charles Higdon and her
daughter, Miss Ellen Higdon, of
North Brookfield, Mass, are
here for a visit to Mrs. Hig
don's mother, Mrs. Ellen Craw
ford, and other relatives. Miss
Higdon was graduated from the
North Brookfield grammar
schcJol this spring, and at grad
uation was chosen by her
classmates for the honor of
making the presentation to the
school principal of flowers from
the class. Mr. Higdon joined
, his family here the latter pari
of last week for a few days'
vacation.
Robert Brendle, of Winston
Salem, spent the week-end with
his parents, Mr. and Mrs. G. H.
Brendle, of Franklin, Route 3.
Mr. and Mrs. Brendle also had
as week-end guests Mrs Bren
dle's aunt, Mrs. J. E. Blakely,
and daughter, Miss Drewilla
Blakely, of Clayton, Ga.
Miss Freda Lee Tallent left
Sunday of last week forGirards
ville, Penna., where she will
spend the summer visiting her
father, B. P Tallent. Miss Tal
lent was accompanied to Pen
nyslvania by her grandmother,
Mrs. Dorcas Tallent.
Scaly
Joe, Jr., and Charles Phillips,
sons of Mr. and Mrs. J. W.
Phillips, of Athens, Ga, have
been spending two weeks with
their grandparents, Mr. and
Mrs. C. C. Vinson, and other
relatives, at Scaly.
A large crowd attended the
home-coming at the Church of
God here recently.
Oassaway have had as their
guests Mrs. Gassaway's mother
and sister, of Shooting Creek.
Miss Aletha Vinson spent a
i recent week-end with her par
I ents, Mr. and Mrs Fred H. Vln
1 1 son, here.
THURSDAY, JULY i,'l948 PAGE THREE
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