University of Virginia Library

Most Are Old

Most of the patients are also old,
and although "cured" as a nurse
pointed out, have nowhere to go.
For the younger patients they try
to arrange jobs, but for the most
part with a family that doesn't
want them, release for a patient is
difficult. As a nurse said, "they
(families) feel they have dumped
their problems on us."

After this introductory talk we
began our tour at the men's
diabetic ward: splintered floors,
bare light bulbs, rooms that
measured six and one-half feet by
twenty feet with six iron frame
beds in each, no running water
(basins were used), and saddest of
all, 54 patients, all over fifty years
old, sitting, standing, lying on
benches along the dark corridors.