As an instance of the great deal of work the hospital is doing, it may be mentioned that the daily average of out-patients alone being treated is Between 600 and 900. Some of these. pay as much as 15 coppers, the maj-Ority are treated free.
The figures for the in-patients, too, are interesting. The average dally. Dill of those who pay. is sixty cents. One-third of the patients, however, [pay nothing whatsoever, while me majority of the remaining two-thirds pay no more than one-fifth of their fest of their treatment to the: hospital.
The average business man may wonder where all this concerns him. Besides the sentimental factor which must be connected with a hospital which has grown up with the city, there are two main points for his Jeonsideration.
The first is that the health of the community as a whole vitally concerns himself, his family, and his business. 4 The Lester Hospital for Chinese plays an important role in the keeping down of disease and sickness. It gives, freely treatment to those who, in the absence of any facilities provided and maintained by the community, would be forced to treat their illnesses themselves oF go without. As an example of one of the smallest of the many things the hospital does towards helping the thousands of poor Chinese in. the Settlement, it may b> mentioned that a prescription which would cost '$250 if Sled by the average pharmacy costs those bringing it to the hospital a mere 25 cents.
It Was not so long ago when Dr, J. Lee H. Paterson, the superintendent, response to enquiries, <aid that the average daily admittance of emer Bency patients was one for every hour of the day. Now, in response to a similar question, he would have to say over 35a day.. The number of outpatients, too, who call daily for treat-Ment to ulcers and non-capacitating ailments, seven years ago totalled 190,000 a' year. Last year, the figure thad swollen to 183,000, and already this year the figure is nearing the 200,000 mark.
The "Chit Clinic The second point that the trustees of the hospital wish to bring to the notice of the business man is the effec that its work has on his business, from the point of view of the health of his Chinese employees. The books of the hospital contain a Jong list of firms which make a habit of sending thei employees to the hospital for treatment when ill. Due to the fact that all the employees have to do to get treatment is to present a note signed by a responsible member this branch of, the hospit known as the "Chit Clinic. fulness and amount of time saved which results from this arrangement may be more clearly seen when it is mentioned that one firm alone had over 2,000 of its employees treated by this means last year.
There is also & more indirect way in which the hospital's work re-acts, to the business man's advantage, He depends, for example, for the trensportation of either cargo, furniture, fof effects upon the trucking companies, and in order to ensure that the work is done properly and speedily, it is of course necessary that the coolies employed by these companies, many of which are small conjeerns, be fit and healthy. In the course of their work, these men re~ lee ive quite a large number of minor injuries, and without a place to go poor.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.