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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1958)
MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Oregon, Monday, July 28, 1958 5 Neuherger Appeals ffor Camp White (Hospital Before Gilo use Committee Editor's note: Following are ex rerpts of statements made by Sen. Richard L. Neuberger (D-Ore.) be bre the house committee on vet r0tni affairs with respect to the Veterans Administration hospital program and establishment of a VA hospital at Camp White. Mr. Chairman, the Veterans Administration hospital pro gram, the largest hospital pro gram in the United States, facts severe crisis. While i the need for hospital facilities and beds continues to in crease, the Veterans Adminis tration reflects the Adminis tration's philosophy on econo rzing and reducing medical ffrt for our veterans. Congress has provided that (8) veteran of any war who has &en onorable service is en itl3 to hospitalization for a G Jvice - connected disability, O t4 for any other disability & the veteran is unable to O . fc"y the expenses of neces sary hospital care. lSt To Reduce Load Let us take a specific ex (ffcnple of what the present Veterans Administration hos pital program means. At the 3EA. hospital at Roseburg, Ore., j $!ri9 Administration plans to re- I J&ice the average annual pa- i Oijnt load by 60, from 630 to q $70, for the fiscal year 1959. &t the same time I was ad i O ised on July 7, by the di i ?,G rlctor of the Veterans Admin ! ' istration Congressional Liai son Service that "as of May 31, 1958, there was a total of 65 eligible applicants await ing admission to the Roseburg Hospital." So while 65 eligible applicants "wait for hospitali zation, the Veterans Adminis tration plans to reduce by 60 the number of hospital beds. The Roseburg hospital is a neuropsychiatric hospital where hospitalization is espe cially important. In April of this year the Veterans Admin istration threatened to close a ward at the Portland Veterans Administration Hospital, lay off hospital personnel and further increase the waiting list. This was prevented from happening by an emergency allocation of funds which I urged the Veterans Adminis tration to make. Program Being Strangled The Veterans Administra tion hospital program is being slowly strangled by the admin istration. There is a vast dif ference between what the Bu reau of the Budget permits the Veterans Administration to re quest and what the Veterans Administration actually needs. I would like to discuss the need for a new Veterans Ad ministration hospital at Ca:p White, Ore., which is located just outside of Medford. This subject has been ably cover- O Try and Stop Me -By BENNETT CERF- o o G A TROUBLED wife told an analyst that her husband was as sane and normal as she was herself but for one minor detail: he thought he was a race horse! "Odd delusion," ad mittd the analyst, "and I'm gfraid I'll have to charge you $10,000 to cure him.' '"Xhat's t turn we can easily gffcrd today," she agreed lijhtly. "Last May, you see, &f husband says he won 3t lontucky Derby." Wmf excuse for staying away 4k?a York popped up in a fcnhattan office. A long - li?d accountant, asked to ex plain why he hadn't shown up au me day previous, ex kuaed ajrfly, "Gee, Boss, it Au Mozart's birthday, and I it I ought to spend it with the tods!" ITaa in midtown night club gazed appreciatively as one of those rtraorinarily-endowed new movie queens swept majestically into em "That girl will go far," he predicted, then added, "In fact, gb's halfway there already tJ 195&V by Bennett Cerf. Distributed by Xing Featucea jimuaI& ed in detail by Congressman Charles O. Porter. Medford is a city of slightly over 23,000 people. The Vet erans Administration operates general medical hospitals in Portland,- Ore., and Oakland, Calif., but there is no Veterans Administration general medi cal hospitals located between these two cities. To the east there is a Veterans Adminis tration hospital located at Boise, Idaho, some 400 miles distant. Within a radius of 125 miles from Medford there lives a population of a half million people and the veteran population totals almost 100, 000. Southern Oregon and Northern California are rap idly increasing in population, at a rate much faster than the national average. The Vet erans Administration present ly operates a 950-bed domicil iary at Camp White, including a 50-bed infirmary. Camp White was built originally by the Army in 1942-43 and pro vided a 1,754-bed hospital. The buildings are of brick construction, having a useful life expectanc of 50 years. There are permanent build ings at Camp White, presently unused, which are fully equip ped to accommodate a 400 bed hospital. Space for 100 Beds The 50-bed infirmary has adequate space for a 100-bed hospital. At the present time the infirmary operates a lab oratory, operating rooms, x ray rooms and a dental clinic at the infirmary. The infirm ary is operated for those vet erans at the domiciliary, and patients are allowed to stay at the infirmary for not more than 30 days. The Administrator of Vet erans Affairs has told me that it would not be possible to ob tain a hospital staff if a hos pital were established at Camp White. I do not believe that this is so, due to the rap idly increasing number of phy sicians and specialists in Jack son county, where Camp White is located. In 1946 there were 36 practicing doc tors in Jackson county; in 1958 there are 73 practicing physicians there. In 1954 there were 18 certified specialists; in 1958 there are 42 certified specialists. There has been no trouble in keeping an ade quate medical staff at the establishment. The establishment of a Vet erans Administration hospital at Camp White has the unani mous support of all members of the Oregon Congressional delegation, state officials and civic groups within the area it would serve. I believe that it is also worth noting that the manager of the domicil iary establishment when asked the question: "What, in your opinion, are the most pressing needs in your installation," replied that, "conversion from a domiciliary to a center hav ing a hospital, intermediate beds and domiciliary activi ties with supporting person nel." I believe that we have dem onstrated the need for a vet erans hospital to be located at Camp White. It would be desirable at this time to estab lish a 100-bed general medi cal hospital at Camp White to serve the veterans of South ern Oregon and Northern Cali fornia. I IMJvMJ (1 1 DOLLAR DAYS FINAL DAYS OF usier Brown Clearance Sale Just A Few More Days Sandals or Pumps NOT ALL SIZES One lot 5 1.00 and $2.00 I fil l DRESSY FLATS In White, Red, Blue and Black Value $7.95 WOMEN'S CASUAL AND FLATS Values to $10.95 NOW ONLY 54.90 ONE LOT CHILDREN'S AND BOYS' SHOES ONLY 3.90 Value $7.95 MEN'S SHOES ONLY 57 uster Broun Shoe Store Fluhref B!dg. 15 So. Central Record Portland Sale Reported Portland (UPD Portlands eight-story Lincoln building was sold for $3,900,000 Satur day to an investment firm headed by two Oregon lum bermen. It was the biggest sale of a single piece of invest ment property in . the city's history. Norris, Beggs and Simpson, West Coast investment com pany, said larger transactions have been recorded but the others involved several prop erty units. The Equity Management Co., headed by Charles F. Wil son, San Francisco and' Rob ert B. Wilson, Portland, pur chased the block-square build ing. The men are officers of the Warm Springs Lumber company here. The building was sold by McCabe Company, Inc. It was constructed in 1947-48 and is occupied under long - term lease by Pacific Telephone and Telgraph Co., the Veter ans Administration, U. S. Post Office, General Insurance Co. of America and the Glen Galls Insurance Co. Life Expectancy Extension Seen Los Angeles (UPD Life expectancy in the United States may be extended from 70 to 75 by the year 2,000, according to Dr. Louis I. Dub lin of the Institute of Life In surance. Dublin based his statement Sunday on estimates by actu aries in government and life insurance business. However, he said the rate at which the average life span has length ened is slowing down. Since 1900, according to Dublin the conquest of dis eases which primarily affect the young has added 22 years onto the average life expect ancy, bringing it to 70 years. He said the problem now is to find ways to control dis eases which mostly affect old er persons. "Although people will live longer, man's life span will not change materially in the future," he said. "Nature has apparently decreed that man, at the most, can live to 110 years, even -with much im proved health conditions." Memorial Services Planned for Airman Edwards AFB, Calif. (UPI) Capt. Iven Kincheloe, a most exceptional airman picked to carry his nation's colors into space in the rocket ship X15, will be honored in memorial services here Tues day. After that, the body of the 30-year-old Air Force officer will be taken to Arlington National Cemetery in the na tion's capital for burial with military honors. Kincheloe died Saturday 10 miles from this Air Force test center when his F104 Star fighter developed trouble on routine "test support mis sion," spun to earth, exploded and burst into flames. PREMIER IN HOSPITAL Capetown, South Africa (UPI) Premier J. G. Strij dom underwent routine .treat ment for his heart ailment at a hospital today. He has been suffering from a heart con dition for several years. .The University of Illinois Agriculture College advises buying herd bulls on the basis of good performance records. The college says this will greatly improve chances of getting offspring that will per mm MAC Mi JACK IffiSM f URRlTUgi - . 1 " Eme Staire S task 1 INIHW camd U 16) 1911 HE MUST VACATE OUR BUILDING Is IMS mm IS Buy at Wholesale and ielow Everything Must (Go Rugs, Appliances, Bedroom Sets, Mattresses, Sectionals, Davenos SALE STARTS TUESDAY "MORNING Open Both Nites Till 8:30 ML SALES TOAl EASY BUDGET TERMS 1 Block North of Big Y on Highway 99 Lots of Parking AG & '.-JACK: Bargain Fmnronitair 1 1 1 I . i ,! I i t I i i form welL 1
