TH E C H E M A W A
A M E R IC A N
3
incidents recorded in th a t portion of th e an n u al report of Missions for
1913,w hich relates to the Good S am aritan H ospital:
“ A t the Good S am aritan H ospital im portant work has been
done d u rin g th e past year. T his hospital know n to the
N avajos as K in-bi-jo-ba-i (th e house in w hich they are
k in d ), was erected by us in the sum m er and fall of 1912,
though th e h eatin g p lan t was not installed until M arch,
this year. T h e w ards were opened for p atien ts and the
dispensary was ready for medical treatm en t on April 1.
O ur medical su p erin ten d en t had taken up her residence
there and began her w ork on Septem ber 15, 1912, b u t her
w ork had been confined to th e cam ps and she bro u g h t to
the hospital only cases th a t were of too serious a n atu re to
be treated successfully in the squalid hogans. Between th at
date and th e opening of the hospital w ards and dispensary,
on A pril first, th is year, 196 sick In d ian s were cared for in
the cam ps and 784 treatm ents given them . Between April
first and O ctober first this year, 377 Indians received 754
treatm en ts at the dispensary, and 86 patients were cared
for in the hospital w ards.
“ It will th u s be seen th a t, in addition to the care of the
patien ts in the hospital w ards, there have been 1538 tre a t
m ents given to sick In d ian s in th e cam ps and at our d ispen
sary d u rin g th e past twelve m onths. W hile trachom a is a
scourge of th e N avajo country and m any of the patients
were treated for th a t disease, there have been o th er cases
each m onth needing surgical skill, medical atten tio n and
n u rsin g care. I m ention a few cases other than eye disease
w hich will give an idea of the varied treatm ents req u ired .
P atien ts have been treated for tuberculosis, rheum atism ,
sores on head, face and body, swollen knee jo in ts, gath erin g
in the ear, bronchitis, ulcerated teeth , grippe, w ounds on
feet, abscesses, slight concussion of the brain, fractured
ribs ano fractured shoulder. It is very g ratify in g to report
th a t tho u g h some of the cases were of a very serious n atu re
n o to n e patient had died d u rin g the year. T h is fact has u n
doubtedly led the In d ian s to look upon the medical work
w ith favor. H ad a death occurred at the hospital d u rin g
the first year the medical work w ould have received a stro n g
set back, and it is probable th at the In d ian s would have
refused to enter the hospital for treatm ent.
A few incidents of the w ards: “ O ne of our most in te r
esting cases,’’ w rites Mr. Jo h n sto n , “ is an old medicine