Pictorial Travel Diary - Day 2 - Health Care at Manzanar
“Ruby Watanabe arrived at Manzanar pregnant. She saw the doctors at the Block 7 hospital clinic, but she delivered her twin girls in the 250-bed hospital complex built by the WRA in July 1942. It was the largest hospital between Los Angeles and Reno, complete with a pharmacy, surgery, X-ray lab, dental clinic, and morgue.
While the medical staff worked to provide good health care, working conditions were adverse to good health. Crowded barracks allowed disease to spread easily and internees had little control over their diet. The hospital responded by creating a preventative health care program that included inoculations, well-baby clinics, and food sanitation programs. While there was only one outbreak of contagious disease and minor food poisoning incidences, tuberculosis and diet related illnesses such as peptic ulcers and diarrhea remained a problem. One hundred forty-three internees died at Manzanar, including Ruby Watanabe and both her daughters.
‘We were faced with children ill with measles, chickenpox, whooping cough, diarrhea. The only place we had for care were barracks without heat, no stove, no water…For me, it was a matter of 14-16 hours per day of struggle and frustration.’
Dr. Yoshiye Togasaki, describing early medical care at Manzanar, 1981
Manzanar’s first hospital was a barracks in Block 1 without running water. The second hospital, in block 7, had running water but lacked basic supplies including water pitchers, baby cribs, and medicines.
COMMUNITY WELFARE
By summer 1942, he WRA estimated that nearly 200 families were in need of public assistance. Many had been left without financial support when their heads of household were interned in Department of Justice camps. The community welfare program addressed the families’ housing, food, clothing, work, and health needs through clothing donations and financial grants. WRA and internee social workers also attempted to stabilize family life by mediating family quarrels and divorce cases, caring for the blind and infirm, and handling juvenile delinquency.
The Manzanar Hospital suffered from personnel shortages. Hospital Administrator Frank Chuman recalled, ‘We just didn’t have anybody that was trained to do hospital work—X-ray, Lab, Pharmacy, and Dentistry—so they all had to be trained and recruited.’ Most nurses’ aides, technicians, and orderlies were Manzanar High School students.
While the medical staff worked to provide good health care, working conditions were adverse to good health. Crowded barracks allowed disease to spread easily and internees had little control over their diet. The hospital responded by creating a preventative health care program that included inoculations, well-baby clinics, and food sanitation programs. While there was only one outbreak of contagious disease and minor food poisoning incidences, tuberculosis and diet related illnesses such as peptic ulcers and diarrhea remained a problem. One hundred forty-three internees died at Manzanar, including Ruby Watanabe and both her daughters.
‘We were faced with children ill with measles, chickenpox, whooping cough, diarrhea. The only place we had for care were barracks without heat, no stove, no water…For me, it was a matter of 14-16 hours per day of struggle and frustration.’
Dr. Yoshiye Togasaki, describing early medical care at Manzanar, 1981
Manzanar’s first hospital was a barracks in Block 1 without running water. The second hospital, in block 7, had running water but lacked basic supplies including water pitchers, baby cribs, and medicines.
COMMUNITY WELFARE
By summer 1942, he WRA estimated that nearly 200 families were in need of public assistance. Many had been left without financial support when their heads of household were interned in Department of Justice camps. The community welfare program addressed the families’ housing, food, clothing, work, and health needs through clothing donations and financial grants. WRA and internee social workers also attempted to stabilize family life by mediating family quarrels and divorce cases, caring for the blind and infirm, and handling juvenile delinquency.
The Manzanar Hospital suffered from personnel shortages. Hospital Administrator Frank Chuman recalled, ‘We just didn’t have anybody that was trained to do hospital work—X-ray, Lab, Pharmacy, and Dentistry—so they all had to be trained and recruited.’ Most nurses’ aides, technicians, and orderlies were Manzanar High School students.
posted by Nana @ 14:40
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