You will appreciate why I make the foregoing remarks. The Commanding Officer cannot perform all the duties incident to the operation of a hospital and the care and treatment of a large number of patients, but, while he must have various types of personnel to care for the patient, he cannot delegate his responsibility for the patient’s welfare.
In the organization of our hospitals there is a proper place for social service the detail operation of which must be left to personnel which devotes its entire time to matters of a social nature, and to matters touching the personal, family and community problems of the patient. Obviously it would be most desirable to have all classes of personnel working in our governmental hospitals to be paid governmental employees. We are working toward the millennium but we are far distant from it, hence, we must avail ourselves of what we find at hand. The United States is populated with a kindly, sympathetic and generous people, which fact makes it possible for the unfortunate hospitalized to enjoy the generosity of our citizenry, much of our social programs in hospitals is made possible by the great membership and charitable organizations of our country. Through these organizations the American people can and do desire to assist constituted governmental authorities to provide for the welfare of the war disabled as well as the regular service man. As I have stated in the first part of my remarks, the Congress has legalized the assistance the American Red Cross can render the Army and Navy. When the veteran is hospitalized in Naval institutions he is given every consideration and treated as a naval patient. We cannot and have no desire to make any distinction between him who is serving his country today, and him who went to its defense yesterday. The truly patriotic would not have it otherwise. The service man of today has been actuated by just as high patriotic motives to serve his flag as the man who stood willing to sacrifice his all in the days when our beloved land was outwardly threatened by a visible enemy.
To those of us who are intensely interested in every phase of the veteran problem and who do not look upon the veteran as merely a medical or surgical case, the testimony given and the tribute paid to welfare endeavors and all forms of social service by Doctor White yesterday morning, was most gratifying. Those of us of the medical profession have the highest regard for the keen insight of a patient’s mental condition, possessed by Doctor White.
Social service should have a definite place in hospital organization. Social service should be the agent of the Commanding Officer for dealing with; (a) the relationships of the hospital to other groups in the community; (b) the relation of the patients to their families and their community; and (c) in the relation of those matters which affect the social conditions which are involved.
Of course everything in the Social Service Department as in any other department of the hospital must be under the absolute control of the Commanding Officer. It has a relation to the administration of the hospital, and to the patients’ treatment. In its relation to the hospital the Social Service Department may:
(a) Provide entertainment. (b) Regulate visiting under the Commanding Officer’s direction. (c) Receive proper donations previously authorized by the Commanding Officer. (d) Stimulate in the adjacent community resources which can be beneficial to the patients.
In the Navy the funds for our entertainment program are primarily provided from allotment made by the Morale Division of the Navy Department and from ships shore or canteen profits. The Red Cross supplements our endeavors and assigns at certain hospitals other personnel than Home Service or Social Service Workers, to assist in recreational measures.
The Social Service Department’s relation to the patient’s treatment:
(a) Securing social histories and other significant data for use of tuberculosis specialists and psychiatrists. (b) Securing reports on home conditions for help of physicians in deciding whether or not to discharge a patient to his home.
Then there is the After Care of the patient and one the Social Service Department should be competent to handle: