Anna Louise Tittman Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

I
Anna Tittman
Q. Who sponsored the floating hospital?
I
A. It was an organization.
Q. A private ortanization?
I
A. Oh, yes, private. Fach bed was endowed. It had a
head of it, a little brass plate, with [the name of]
that gave a good backlog [of mey for] repairs for
storage for the boat ;inlLthe winter,
of course, and we had the diaper man. The
put them in pails--held go around and
bag, and away they'd go. The little
Q. Elid you do the laundry on board ship or did he take it to shore?
A. No, we had a laundry on the boat. Q. The first year you went, did you have to pay tuition? I
A. No, no. They were glad to have the service.
Q. How about at Johns Hopkins, did you have to pay tuitiop there?
A. No, no.
I
it and
9. men af'ter your first year at the floating hospital, they paid you?
..,/-y-
1
J
A. Yes, oh, yes. I was paid. It wasn't a big salary, but I just loved
that place. We put into the diapers a piece of linen, old linen, like tom
up sheets [as a diaper liner]. I collected a lot of that or% of thhg
and sent a great big chest, pat big wooden box, to
Q. From Springfield?
A. Yes, f'rom Springfield. That could be put in another pal, you Icnaw,
that little piece, because a lot of these cases were fee- cases, not
all of them. We had to give enemas. We had what we calleg a treatment
mom for that. They were laid down on the little bed and here was a gutter
here md the enema was given to them. It was a high tube I hat went up. It
was very nice. There were a consfderable rimer of deaths,
There were six wards and then there was the upper deck.
could come, bring their other children beside their si
sick enom to be given permanent care in the bed, in
although we had night nurses. Of course, we had to do
upper deck was wide open. Where is that picture (show
You can see it better here. The upper deck was open
and the babies, they'd have chws, each baby would b
the prescriptions prescribed and they [the mthers] were t how to make
these formulas. And then they'd look at each other's
say, "Oh, you've had so many Illlscmiages. I've only had 1 two; you've had
three, I ' ve only had two, " and $0 on. You know, they ' d redd each others
charts .