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Tuberculosis Schemes are sadly deficient in another important
respect. The average stay in the Sanatorium provided for the poorer
section of the community is about twelve weeks. This period is
valuable in two respects—it suffices to train the sufferer to the
practices which will help him towards maintaining the improvement
in his health which results from his short stay in the Sanatorium,
and by the observances that will reduce the risks to others when he
returns home; for it is a question whether anyone is ever cured
in much less than twelve months of Sanatorium treatment. But
Sanatorium treatment implies abundance of fresh air, abundance
of good food and rest, carefully regulated exercise or work, and
skilled medical supervision; and a patient who is not in very
comfortable financial circumstances cannot maintain those essentials
after his discharge, and so he gradually loses what he has gained
on the road to recovery, and he mostly dies from Tuberculosis within
two years from his discharge.
Now this involves a great cost with but a very small return—
except that it somewhat prolongs his life—and the expenditure of
more money is necessary to secure valuable results. Through AfterCare
Committees his pecuniary circumstances, home environment,
and working conditions must be maintained reasonably favourable
to his partial cure becoming a complete one. Tuberculosis Colonies
which are gradually being established over the country represent
a serious effort in this direction. In these Colonies hygienic homes
with family life, carefully regulated employment, and sufficient
suitable food and regime of living are supervised by a medical man.
Doubtless they will need the assistance of a County and State subsidy,
but if they prove attractive the results will warrant the costs.
It is better to spend more in getting good results than to spend much
almost ineffectively.
Medical practitioners in Stoke Newington may be said to be
notifying the disease far better than in many districts—for whereas
the number of notifications of Tuberculosis is sometimes only about
that of the deaths registered from that disease, in Stoke Newington
they are nearly double. It is, however, probable that the actual
number of sufferers in any year approximates to three times the
number of deaths.