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3. There are also patients who for some reason or other cannot
go to Sanatoria, and it might be possible to help these people a little
by giving them a certain amount of treatment, although, as mentioned
above, they can hardly expect to receive the full benefits of
sanatorium treatment.
4. At the present time there are some 300 old standing cases in
Bermondsey who have been under treatment at various times, and
would benefit by the sun treatment at intervals. This makes a
total of 1,000 patients per annum who would greatly profit by such
Heliotherapy and open air as we could apply in Bermondsey.
I might say that this figure is rather under-estimated than overestimated,
because we want to be careful and avoid exaggeration
either as to the numbers of persons requiring treatment or the
benefits which we hope they will receive. The next is as to how
these proposals can be carried out. To do this it will be necessary
for the Council to have at their disposal an acre or two of open space
in which a suitable building with equipment can be erected to apply
the treatment above sketched, and the following outline for the
Sun Cure has been considered by Dr. Connan and myself. To
members of the Council the scheme may seen very extravagant and
expensive, but it is difficult to see how you could provide for a
certain amount of treatment to be given to the classes above mentioned
without the buildings and equipment we recommend. To begin
in a very small way, especially after the large amount of advertisement
which Heliotherapy has received in the Press and elsewhere,
will disappoint many people if they cannot experience some of the
benefits, and if the work is worth carrying out at all it is worth doing
well. At the present time at the back of All Saints' Church, in
Lower Road, Rotherhithe, there is an old disused graveyard, about
three-quarters of an acre in extent, and there is also a little land
on each side which it might be possible to add. The Council has
decided to apply for a faculty to use this as an open space, and I
understand the Beautification Committee has agreed to allow a
portion to be used for Heliotherapy and open-air treatment.