Excerpt from Annual Report of the Trustees of the Worcester State Hospital, 1934 To His Excellency the Governor, and the Honorable Council: The Trustees of the Worcester State Hospital respectfully submit the 102nd annual report of the hospital together with the report of the Superintendent, Dr. William A. Bryan, and report of the Treasurer, Miss Margaret T. Crimmins, and other statistical information. In the annual report of 1933 certain specific recommendations were made leading to improvements which would improve the situation at this hospital so far as fire risk is concerned. Since that report was made certain changes have been brought about which have taken care of some of these matters. The work of rewiring the hospital was begun during the present year, also the replacement of wooden staircases by fireproof construction. Your board again calls attention to the desirability of beginning a program of replacement of wooden floors in the institution which would make the building fireproof throughout. There is also the imperative need of an adequate fire alarm system in order to permit proper organization of the employees in case of fire. These changes are very necessary if the risk of fire is to be cut down. The board feels that the particular need is the replacement of the wooden floors and earnestly requests that some steps be taken to carry out this program as soon as possible. Such a program would necessarily extend over a period of years, perhaps five, but when it is completed the fire hazard which continues to exist in this hospital because of these wooden floors would be practically eliminated. The board again directs your attention to the need of a more liberal appropriation for the minor repairs of the hospital and also a more liberal amount of money for actual medical and general care of patients. It is only a question of time until these minor repairs become larger ones, and the cost is proportionately greater. In the matter of our need for actual medical care of patients it is pointed out that in an attempt to get away from pure custodial care, actual intensive treatment must be carried out on the patients who are committed here. There is an imperative need for a well organized general hospital to serve the mental population, and this naturally requires a greater per capita cost than the institution as a whole. While a great deal of the cost comes from the general per capita, the budget is such that the amount of money allotted for this particular purpose is entirely inadequate. Modern medicine has given us many therapeutic weapons, new equipment, and new methods of treatment, and the hospital would be remiss if it did not progress in this particular respect. It is to be hoped that a more liberal policy will be adopted in the future for both repairs and medical and general care. The board continues to emphasize its recommendation that an increase in the number of ward personnel would probably be reflected in an increase in the discharge rate. We believe that such recovery rate is proportionate to the number and kind of personnel. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.