I merely mention these items to show how much can be saved by care and attention to details in a large institution like Ancon Hospital. I could mention many other items, but these suffice to show that the hospital was very economically as well as efficiently run.

All the adjuncts of a large and well-managed farm could be found on the Ancon Hospital grounds—a poultry yard, a piggery, a large garden, all of which contributed largely to the comfort of the patients, and to the economy of administration. The poultry yard contained some two thousand hens; also, pigeons, ducks, etc.

Ancon being in the suburbs of the city of Panama, and on the mountainside, was always considered a most desirable place of residence. Out of compliment to the Church, the French Company erected for the Bishop of the Diocese of Panama a residence just within the hospital gates, and fixed up the approaches to this residence in very handsome style. A macadam road led from the hospital gate up to the front of the building, and a broad flight of some thirty-five or forty steps led from the main roadway directly up to the building itself. A noble row of fifteen or twenty royal palms partially screened the building in front. This building was used by us as quarters for the superintendent of Ancon Hospital.

The laboratory for original research, which I described above, was located across the roadway some fifty or sixty yards in front of this house. I have also mentioned that part of the function of the laboratory was that of an undertaking establishment, and many of the funeral services for those who died took place in a small chapel connected with this laboratory. At one time in the early days when a number of the Americans were dying of yellow fever, the Governor of the Zone, like many of the others one day felt cold chills creeping down his spine. He went over to the laboratory to consult Major La Garde. The Major took his temperature, felt his pulse, made a careful examination and looked exceedingly grave. He insisted upon the Governor’s going up into his (Major La Garde’s) house, the one I have just described as overlooking the laboratory.

While the Governor was undressing and getting ready for bed, a hearse drove up to the laboratory, but from the location of the building, the hearse was also immediately at the foot of the broad flight of steps leading to the Bishop’s house. The Governor was naturally much depressed at the turn affairs seemed to be taking. Evening was drawing on, and the sun was sinking to rest. He knew from the history of yellow fever that many a poor fellow who had gone to bed as he was doing had not lived to see the sun rise again. So he made up his mind that he would take one more look at the sun, the trees and the outside world before he turned in. He went to the window, drew aside the curtains and looked out, and there at the foot of the steps, right at his front door, stood the hearse. With a groan he turned to his bed, sure now that Major La Garde regarded the case as one of those short and fatal ones, and had ordered the hearse so that it would be on hand and convenient when the Governor had need of it. But I am glad to say that the Governor was all right next morning, and the hearse had been ordered not for the Governor, but for some poor fellow in the morgue at the laboratory. This is not my story, but the Governor’s, and I wish I could tell it in the inimitable way I have many times heard it from him.

As stated previously, any sick employee was cared for in Ancon Hospital, or any other Department hospital, free of charge. If he were on the gold roll, he was allowed pay for thirty days’ sickness in each year. The gold roll practically meant white Americans, of whom there were about five thousand. The families of employees receiving more than fifty dollars per month were charged one dollar a day for treatment in the wards. If they asked for special consideration, such as private rooms, or private nurses, they were charged accordingly. No charge was made for surgical operations on members of the families of employees. If the employee received less than fifty dollars a month, a member of his family was charged only thirty cents a day in the hospital. Any person not an employee was charged two dollars per day for ordinary treatment in wards, and an additional charge for all extras, such as private rooms, special nurses, etc.

On October 31, 1913, we had in our hospitals three hundred and twenty-nine white employees, four hundred and forty-five negro employees, one hundred and ninety-nine white non-employee pay patients, and four hundred and fifty-six black non-employee pay patients.

The income of the Department from all sources during the calendar year of 1913 was about $250,000. This came principally from persons cared for in the hospitals.

CHAPTER XVIII
THE SANITARIUM AT TABOGA

Panama Bay runs straight south from Ancon mountain about one hundred miles. It is filled with a great number of islands, which are evidently the tops of mountains projecting above the surface of the water. One of these islands is Taboga, situated in the bay about twelve miles south of the city of Panama. It rises abruptly from the surface of the ocean about a thousand feet, and at the present time is very thoroughly cultivated, the principal product being pineapples which have a great local reputation for size and flavor. It was inhabited by the Indians when the city of Panama was first founded by the Spaniards, and the wealthy inhabitants of the city of Panama early made it a resort, as being pleasanter, cooler and more healthy than the mainland. The water was considered unusually pure, and the island had the reputation of not being liable to yellow fever.