Bed-Ridden Orchestra Tunes Out Gloom

Crippled Girls in Hospital Forget Pain in Joy of Making Their Own Music

By Vera Palmer

Who knows that Richmond is the proud possessor of one of the most unique orchestras in the whole United States? Every musician in the group is bed-ridden and all are girls less than 14 years old. But those little folk can play their fiddles, drums and other instruments in a way to make mature orchestra members sit up in astonishment. Every player is a patient at the Crippled Children's Hospital, and when Dr. Hans Kindler, the distinguished conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, comes here from Washington the first of next month to give a concert for the benefit of the hospital, it is more than likely he will want them to play for him.

Dr. Kindler is sympathetic toward all children and when he sees those small girls who are so heavily handicapped seeking to forget their pain in the joy of music of their own making, his heart is sure to go out to them. The first of the series of six concerts, four of them by the great orchestra, will take place at the Mosque the night of November 1, while the final offering is to be given in March, all sponsored by the hospital where 60 beds are constantly occupied by crippled children from every part of Virginia. About one in every five is a resident of Richmond.

Each patient is given the best of care according to modern methods and while, of course, it is not possible to cure all these little sufferers, it is said to be rare, indeed, that a child is not helped to the extent of becoming an asset to himself and to society, instead of remaining a liability. There is a waiting list of at least 15 boys and girls, all in serious need of treatment.

Attention was first called to the needs of these unfortunate youngsters in 1916, as a result of the epidemic of infantile paralysis that swept over the State that year, even as the demands on the hospital are now greater than ever before, owing to the epidemic of the summer just passed. A clinic for their treatment was formed and immediately brought about excellent results.

It was in 1920, however, that the hospital was organized and the little patients were sent to the Dooley Hospital. Much of the unromantic toil of organization was done by H. Watkins Ellerson and that beloved pioneer nurse in Virginia public health work, the late Miss Nannie Minor. Mr. Ellerson was the first president, and by strange coincidence it so happens that he and Mrs. Ellerson are great friends of Madame Goeta Ljungberg, leading soprano of the Metropolitan Opera Company, who is to be soloist at the opening concert in the contemplated series.

Whole State Pledged to Aid Lads and Lassies

For months Miss Hattie Belle Gresham went into nearly every county on the Old Dominion to tell women's clubs, church business men that something must be done for the crippled young Virginians. Those were dramatic and appealing talks that Miss Gresham gave in private homes, churches and public halls. She cited instances of boys and girls wasting away on beds of pain when, with the aid of modern skill and boundless patience, they could be turned into useful and happy men and women. As the result of her pleas, chapters were organized in cities, towns and villages, in remote mountain communities, and in progressive Tidewater neighborhoods.

Groups pledged themselves to contribute funds annually to aid the vast undertaking of salvaging childhood, and these groups are continuing their good work, much of it due to the tireless and intelligent service rendered by Miss Gresham. In the spring of 1923, so many children had been operated on and were in need of adequate convalescent care, that a summer camp was opened at Westhampton College, one of the buildings of which was loaned for that purpose. Money for operating expenses was provided by the Austin Bible Class of First Baptist Church.

The summer camp experiment proved so successful that a year-around building in the country was acquired in 1924, at Brook Road and Sherwood Avenue, the site of the present hospital. Available funds made possible only 25 beds, but that was a definite step in the right direction and soon great good was accomplished. But greater riches were in store for the hospital, for the will of the late Mrs. Dooley revealed that $500,000 was bequeathed to the Crippled Children's Hospital.

Half of that large amount gave Virginia the beautiful modern building with its 60 beds and initial equipment, while the other half went to endow the institution. But for the last four years, since the onset of the depression, there has been an annual deficit of about $5,000. The budget calls for appropriate $35,000, nearly $9,000 of which comes from a State appropriation. But this and the reduced interest on the endowment leave several thousand dollars to be made up through benefits, such as the concerts, and from gifts.

When children first arrive they are placed in a receiving ward for two weeks as a precaution against communicable diseases. During that period everything is strange and they sometimes become a bit homesick. Many of them have never before seen electric lights, while to move their surroundings might be in another world and their food manna from heaven. But Miss Virginia Williams, superintendent, and daughter of the beloved late Dr. Ennion G. Williams, declares that it is almost unknown for a child to fret after those first few days.

Patient for Decade Prepared for High School

The average stay is three months, but often it goes into years, while one little girl made the hospital her home for an entire decade. She was brought in at the age of 4 suffering with tuberculosis of the back and hip, and she left when she was 14, tremendously improved in body and mind.

The hospital maintains a regular elementary school running for nine months and employs two teachers. It carries all grades from the first up to high school entrance. The little girl who stayed so long did not know her letters when she arrived and was nearly ready for high school when she went home. It is probably all the education she will have. A nursery school was started last summer with Federal funds.

All Are Residents of Old Dominion

The little patients must be residents of Virginia, not more than 14 years old, and their parents must be able to pay for their care. Everything at the hospital is absolutely free, even clothes and braces, and the latter are often expensive.

Most of the children are sent in by local physicians in all parts of the State and they are brought to Richmond by county nurses. All the orthopedic surgeons in this city practice there, and in addition to Miss Williams, there are 10 graduate nurses, six attendants, four student nurses from Memorial Hospital, with which Ginter Park institution is affiliated, and a physiotherapist, who gives exercises and massage. Volunteer instructors teach the children sewing and music. Much of the management of the place is in the hands of Woman's Auxilliary of which Mrs. W. Luther Moon is president.

Ginter Park is so pleased to have the hospital as the center of community interest that residents cannot do enough for the small patients. The Presbyterian Church of that section conducts Sunday school for the children every week and holds services once a month, while the church women of Ginter Park do all the hospital mending. Each denomination takes the task for a month at a time. Sunshine Circle of King's Daughters looks after the nurses' home, providing many comforts as well as necessities.

But providing for the welfare of the hospital is not confined to Ginter Park for to Richmond, nor even to Virginia, for practically every State in the Union participates in the big job of helping the twisted little bodies of young Virginians to become straight and strong. The Kappa Delta National Sorority not only equipped the gymnasium and dental clinic, but provides for five patients each year. It requires $50 annually to supply a child with clothing and bed-clothes, while $1,000 endows one bed. Each Christmas boxes are received from Kappa Delta chapters in all parts of the country, and the presents they send delight the hearts of the small patients, many of whom are far from home.