Within a few days we expect to open up several hundred beds at Fitzsimmons General Hospital for veterans suffering from tuberculosis. This last large increase has been made possible by funds transferred by the Veterans’ Bureau to the War Department for the specific purpose of enlarging this hospital. When the construction and alteration made possible by these funds has been completed (and the completion is expected almost daily) 700 additional beds for the tuberculosis will have been provided in permanent structures for a little over $1000 per bed.
In addition to the buildings turned over to the Public Health, which have already been enumerated, the Medical Department has turned over to that Service supplies approximating a value of $12,336,000.00. It has been a source of gratification to the Medical Department, and I am sure to the War Department, that the Army was in a position to assist in rendering aid to the American soldier disabled in the World War.
The total number of all cases treated in our general hospitals during the last year was approximately 30,000; of these 10,000 were local cases and 20,000 were general cases, and of the latter 15,700 were our own and 4300 pertained to the Veterans’ Bureau.
A brief summary of the Veterans’ Bureau cases treated in our hospitals may be of interest. Of the 4,300 cases treated during the year (October 1, 1920, to October 1, 1921) 180, or about 4% were suffering from either nervous or mental conditions; 2195 or about 51% with tuberculosis; 770, or about 18% with diseases or injuries of the osseous system; 75, or nearly 2% with heart or vascular diseases, and the remaining 25% was made up of all other conditions combined.
In addition to this work, much assistance has been rendered in making physical examinations for that Bureau to determine the right to compensation or the necessity for hospitalization. Over 2,000 of these examinations were made during the year, many of which necessitated admission to hospital for varying periods to permit a thorough survey in order that correct diagnosis or physical condition might be established.”
GENERAL SAWYER: “I am sure it must be gratifying to you to obtain a more intimate knowledge of the conduct of these affairs. I have pleasure in introducing to you Rear Admiral Edward R. Stitt, Surgeon General of the United States Navy, who will inform you as to ‘The Navy’s Part in the Hospitalization of the World War Veterans’.”