1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. A couple of summers ago, 4 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:22,439 Speaker 1: I had a little time to spend as I waited 5 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: for a train out of Boston's North Station, and I 6 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: decided that in that time I would go look for 7 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: the Boston Molasses Flood historical marker, because it's not far 8 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 1: from there. It was something to do. I'd never seen 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: that marker before. While I was walking around, a different 10 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: sign caught my eye, and it was about the Boston 11 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: Floating Hospital. That was a children's hospital that operated on 12 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: a boat in Boston Harbor in the late nineteenth and 13 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: early twentieth centuries. I was immediately intrigued by that whole idea, 14 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: and I thought about lining up the Floating Hospital for 15 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: my next episode. But we've established by now that when 16 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: times are particularly tough, sometimes I just want to talk 17 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: about people trying to save some babies. So I saved 18 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: the topic for later, and it is later now, so 19 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: here we go. In the late nineteenth century, poverty was 20 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 1: a serious problem in Boston, Massachusetts. The city had become 21 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: known for its so called Brahmin class, which was wealthy, elite, 22 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: and exclusive. But like a lot of other cities, it 23 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: had been dramatically affected by industrialization, which had led to 24 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: both a larger population and more pollution. Enormous numbers of 25 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: people had also moved to Boston from Ireland in the 26 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,320 Speaker 1: wake of the Great Famine that started in eighteen forty five. 27 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: By eighteen fifty, Irish immigrants made up about a quarter 28 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: of Boston's population, and many of the newest arrivals had 29 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: been fleeing a catastrophe and had arrived without a lot 30 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: of money or resources. There also just wasn't a lot 31 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: of medical care available for poorer people in Boston, including children. 32 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,239 Speaker 1: Wealthy people could go to private hospitals, they could see 33 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: private doctors, but there were not many charity hospitals for 34 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: people who couldn't afford to do that. Definitely not enough 35 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: charitable work to provide care for everyone who needed it. 36 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: In terms of care, specifically for children. Boston Children's Hospital 37 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: was founded in eighteen sixty nine, but it was pretty 38 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: small at first. It only treated thirty patients. In its 39 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: first year in operation, it only had twenty beds. The 40 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: idea of medical care for children as its own specialty 41 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: was also very new. The first children's hospital in the 42 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: US had been established in Philadelphia in eighteen fifty five, 43 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: and the term pediatrics first appeared in writing two years 44 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: after that. Most of the vaccines that prevent deadly childhood 45 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: diseases today had not been developed yet, and the first 46 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: antibiotics were still decades away. So all this together meant 47 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: that in the late nineteenth century, childhood mortality rates in 48 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: Boston were very high. About ten percent of the children 49 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: in the city died before they turned five, and those 50 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:21,360 Speaker 1: deaths disproportionately took place during the summertime. According to reports 51 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: from the city's Board of Health, nearly three times as 52 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: many children under the age of five died in the 53 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: months of July and August than in the month of June. 54 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: A lot of these summertime deaths were attributed to cholera 55 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:38,279 Speaker 1: and phantom, which was a catch all term for diarrheal 56 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: illnesses in children. In adults, this was usually called cholera morbis. 57 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: There were a couple of reasons why these illnesses were 58 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: a lot more common and also deadlier in the summer. 59 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: Today's home refrigeration techniques didn't exist yet, so at most 60 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: people might have an ice box, but even that was 61 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: often out of reach for the poorest families, so the 62 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: bacteria that caused a lot of these illnesses could really 63 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: thrive in unrefrigerated food in the warm weather. Modern air 64 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: conditioning also didn't exist yet, so children who got one 65 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: of these gastro intestinal illnesses were a lot more likely 66 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:22,359 Speaker 1: to become critically dehydrated during the summer when it was hot. 67 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,280 Speaker 1: This was all complicated by the fact that a lot 68 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: of Boston's poorest people were living in overcrowded, badly ventilated tenements, 69 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: often in parts of the city where the air quality 70 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:39,279 Speaker 1: was very bad due to industrial and railroad pollution. Another 71 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: factor was connected to what babies in these neighborhoods were 72 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,159 Speaker 1: typically eating, which was often some sort of substitute for 73 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: human breast milk. People in poor families typically had to 74 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 1: return to work soon after giving birth just to make 75 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,480 Speaker 1: ends meet, and there were virtually no social or workplace 76 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: supports in place for breastfeeding, with few exceptions. Poor women 77 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: who worked as wet nurses were not allowed to bring 78 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: their own children with them to work, so they were 79 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 1: also fed some kind of substitute as well, while the 80 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 1: employer's children were breastfed. Today, formula is made to meat 81 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: baby's nutritional needs, and there are safeguards in place to 82 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: try to ensure that formula is as safe as possible. 83 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: None of those things were true in the late nineteenth century. 84 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,840 Speaker 1: There were more than twenty brands of commercially made infant 85 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: food in existence by the eighteen eighties, but they really 86 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: weren't nutritionally complete, and even if they had been, they 87 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:43,599 Speaker 1: were not really being widely used yet. Instead, for most 88 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: low income families, food for infants started with cow's milk 89 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: or goat's milk, sometimes mixed with water, sugar, or other ingredients. 90 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: Other alternatives included porridges and teas. These substitutes often were 91 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: not nutritional adequate for babies. They typically had far too 92 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,719 Speaker 1: much of some nutrients and not enough of others, and 93 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: since the milk was not being pasteurized, it could also 94 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: contain pathogens that made people sick. Most people also didn't 95 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: have a way to adequately clean and sterilize their baby bottles. 96 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,919 Speaker 1: The Reverend Rufus B. Toby was a minister who was 97 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: aware of a lot of the issues that were affecting 98 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: poor people in Boston. He was one of the associate 99 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: pastors at Berkeley Temple Congregational Church, which was located near 100 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: some of Boston's poorest neighborhoods. Berkeley Temple characterized itself as 101 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:43,160 Speaker 1: a congregation whose doors were always open and would always 102 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: answer calls for spiritual or temporal help. The church had 103 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: an array of groups and societies that carried out all 104 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:54,720 Speaker 1: kinds of charitable work, including lady workers who visited people 105 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: in prisons and other institutions, as well as in their homes. 106 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: Berkeley Temple also had a lending library and hosted classes 107 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: for the community in academic subjects and in practical skills 108 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: like dressmaking and mechanical drawing. One night in the summer 109 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: of eighteen ninety three, Toby was returning home from work 110 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: and crossed the South Boston Bridge, also known as the 111 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: Dover Street Bridge. This bridge crossed four point Channel, which 112 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: extended farther inland than it does today, and it offered 113 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: a view of the Boston skyline. It had become a 114 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: popular place for couples to go for a stroll, but 115 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: that night Toby noticed that it was full of mothers 116 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: walking back and forth with their babies and small children. 117 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: Toby asked around and learned that this happened every night, 118 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: sometimes late into the night, as parents tried to find 119 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: some fresh air and relief from the heat thanks to 120 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: the breeze that was coming off the harbor. Toby had 121 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: also heard about a hospital boat in New York City 122 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: called the Emma Abbot, which was named after an opera 123 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: singer who was one of its major benefactors. The Emma 124 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: Abbot had first launched in eighteen seventy five, but charitable 125 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: organizations had started funding trips around New York's harbors and 126 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: rivers in the late eighteen sixties to give poor children 127 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: access to fresher, cooler air. This was especially in the 128 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: warmer months. Toby started thinking about trying something similar in 129 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,880 Speaker 1: Boston to offer fresh air and free medical care to 130 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: children in need, regardless of nationality or creed away from 131 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: the pollution and noise of the city. In the words 132 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: of a report issued by Boston's Floating Hospital in nineteen 133 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: oh three, quote physicians of the city who were consulted 134 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: were in complete agreement as to the wonderful effects of 135 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: sea air upon infants and young children, and especially when 136 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: from any cause these babies were ailing or threatened by 137 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: summer diseases. It was found to be a common practice 138 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: with many physicians to send mothers with infants thus endangered 139 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,720 Speaker 1: upon daily johns in the marine park or some similar 140 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: oap been bordering upon saltwater, or to any available place 141 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: where these benefits could be obtained. We'll talk about how 142 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: the floating Hospital actually got started after a sponsor break. 143 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: Several people worked with the Reverend Rufus B. Toby on 144 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: establishing a hospital ship for children in Boston. One was 145 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:32,079 Speaker 1: his assistant, Lewis Freeman. Freeman's father had been part of 146 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: a diplomatic delegation from Central America and his mother was 147 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 1: a black musical performer living in Washington, d c. Prior 148 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: to the Civil War. We don't have a ton of 149 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: detail about his life, but Freeman had visited Boston as 150 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 1: a child and had really fallen in love with it, 151 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: and when he moved back to Boston as an adult, 152 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 1: he got a job at Berkeley Temple. Freeman played a 153 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:59,200 Speaker 1: critical role in managing the finances and operations of the 154 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 1: Floating Hospital for its entire shipboard existence. He might have 155 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: been the person who wrote the hospital's annual reports. Another 156 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,679 Speaker 1: was Edward Everett Hale, who was an author, a historian, 157 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 1: and a Unitarian minister. Toby and Hale had both worked 158 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: with the Seashore Homes Association, which was a charitable organization 159 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 1: providing short seaside vacations to impoverished families in the summer. 160 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:27,680 Speaker 1: Hale was a key part of the fundraising effort for 161 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,320 Speaker 1: the hospital ship. Some of this was direct fundraising on 162 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:34,800 Speaker 1: his part and some was through organizations that he had inspired. 163 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: His eighteen seventy novel Ten Times One Is Ten The 164 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:43,200 Speaker 1: Possible Reformation was about the power of collective action, and 165 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: it made frequent use of the phrase lend a hand. 166 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 1: Various social and charitable organizations had formed after its publication, 167 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: calling themselves the Ten Times One Society or the Lend 168 00:10:55,880 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: a Hand Club. Another prominent charity called the Monday Evening 169 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:02,959 Speaker 1: Club had also offered its support, and there were lots 170 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 1: of individual donors, large and small. Eventually they raised enough 171 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: money to charter a barge called the Clifford, which took 172 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: its first voyage as a floating hospital on July twenty fifth, 173 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety four. A tugboat towed the Clifford out into 174 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:21,200 Speaker 1: the harbor at nine in the morning, and it remained 175 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: at anchor until the afternoon when the tugboat brought it 176 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:27,719 Speaker 1: back to the dock. This first voyage was really an 177 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: experiment and an attempt to demonstrate that there was a 178 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,959 Speaker 1: need for such a service in Boston. The Clifford was 179 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,680 Speaker 1: a recreational barge, so it had to be turned into 180 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: a temporary hospital and then back again when it returned 181 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 1: to the dock. In the words of a historical sketch 182 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: of the floating Hospital published in nineteen oh three, quote, 183 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 1: before it could be made available for hospital uses, every 184 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: belonging of an excursion boat must be removed and the 185 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:57,440 Speaker 1: barge prepared for the reception of hospital furniture. Thus, in 186 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: the morning, hammocks were swung, cots were placed in position, 187 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:04,120 Speaker 1: and clothing for the children, and apparatus for cooking food 188 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 1: and sterilizing milk were taken aboard, all of which appliances 189 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,560 Speaker 1: had to be removed on the evening of the same day. 190 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: On that first trip, the floating hospital had two doctors, 191 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:19,959 Speaker 1: two nurses and an assistant who all volunteered their time. 192 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: Big focus was on the healthful benefits of sea air, 193 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: so not a ton of medical staff. At that point, 194 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: tickets had been distributed through charities, dispensaries, hospitals, and doctors. 195 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 1: They had to be signed by a doctor indicating that 196 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:39,839 Speaker 1: a baby was sick and would benefit from the sea air, 197 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: but did not have a contagious illness. Although some fathers 198 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:49,560 Speaker 1: did bring their children aboard, overwhelmingly babies and small children 199 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: were brought by their mothers, older sisters, or other female relatives. 200 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 1: Parents were also allowed to bring one healthy child under 201 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 1: the age of six if they could not be left 202 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: with someone else. All food on board was provided and 203 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 1: paid for by charitable contributions that included bottles for babies 204 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: who were not being breastfed and meals for older children 205 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: and caregivers. Because contaminated food and milk were such common 206 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,440 Speaker 1: sources of summertime illness, no other food was allowed, and 207 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: people's bags were searched and any food discarded before they 208 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: could board. This rule about food was one of three 209 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: rules printed on the back of the ticket, the other 210 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: two being about bringing one healthy child if necessary, and 211 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: that the trip would be postponed in the event of 212 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 1: stormy weather. The staff used these bag searches as an 213 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:44,199 Speaker 1: opportunity to teach about food safety, trying as much as 214 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 1: possible to avoid making mothers feel embarrassed or ashamed if 215 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: they had food that had to be thrown away. There 216 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:54,560 Speaker 1: was a key difference between the approach to care at 217 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: the Floating Hospital and most other medical services for children 218 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,880 Speaker 1: in Boston at the time. Time we already said those 219 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 1: services were limited, but beyond that, parents were often intentionally excluded. 220 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: There was just a running belief that poor mothers were 221 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: part of the problem and were to blame for their 222 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 1: children's illnesses. But the Floating Hospital welcomed parents aboard. In 223 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:22,360 Speaker 1: the word of a report written ahead of the eighteen 224 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,240 Speaker 1: ninety five season, quote one of the chief objects aimed 225 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: at in the Floating Hospital service is to place the 226 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: responsibility for the care of the sick baby upon the mother. 227 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: While on board the Floating Hospital, a doctor and a 228 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: nurse look out for its welfare. She is taught what 229 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: to do for the child between trips and reports each 230 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: time she returns with it. The experience thus acquired is invaluable. 231 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 1: So this included things like teaching mothers to prepare formula 232 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: that was as safe and nutritious as possible, or to 233 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: prepare some version of milk in the earlier years it 234 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: was as safe a new Chris as possible, how to 235 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: clean and sterilize the baby bottles, and eventually offering affordable 236 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:11,160 Speaker 1: bottles and sterilizers for sale. In the first eighteen ninety 237 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: four season, the Clifford took five hospital voyages. Roughly eleven 238 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,800 Speaker 1: hundred babies and children received care on the barge, accompanied 239 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: by about six hundred and fifty mothers and other caregivers. 240 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety five, Toby and Freeman left Berkeley Temple 241 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: to focus solely on the Floating Hospital, establishing the Boston 242 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:36,400 Speaker 1: Floating Hospital Corporation. Money was raised for more voyages and 243 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: a surgical ward was created, though surgery was not the 244 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: main focus of the hospital. The majority of children treated 245 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: at the Floating Hospital had some kind of gastro intestinal illness, 246 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 1: but children with other diseases were treated as well, including 247 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 1: those with bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections, and various other diseases 248 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: and conditions. In eighteen ninety five, the cliff took thirteen 249 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:04,000 Speaker 1: trips into the Harbor as a hospital, following the same 250 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: basic pattern as the year before. Exactly where they went 251 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: over the years usually depended on the weather. Lewis Freeman 252 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: described it this way in a diary quote. We'd go 253 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: out whenever there was a breeze. We'd leave the North 254 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: End Pier at nine in the morning, go out into 255 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: the upper Harbor, then into the Lower Harbor and down 256 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: to Long Island opposite Deer Island. If the breeze got 257 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: too heavy, we'd turn around and come back into Dorchester 258 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 1: Bay and anchor down off of Thompson's Island. On Sunday 259 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 1: we'd go through Gull Hut and anchor off of Pemberton. Sometimes, 260 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,880 Speaker 1: if the air was just right, we'd travel up to 261 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: Marblehead or go down to anchor off of Situate Light. 262 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: But our favorite spot to anchor and have lunch was 263 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: just off Boston Light. The lighthouse keeper would sound the 264 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: foghorn in our honor and the children would wave back. 265 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety six, the floating hospital operated daily over 266 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: the summer months except for Sundays. It was reorganized to 267 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 1: have a board of managers and some paid staff. The 268 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: scope of services that were offered aboard the floating hospital 269 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:13,959 Speaker 1: really grew. A kindergarten was established for the healthy children 270 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: on board. A modified milk department was also created to 271 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: prepare and bottle food for the babies. Over the years 272 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:24,199 Speaker 1: that followed, this crew into a food lab that was 273 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: devoted to studying the nutritional content of milk substitutes and 274 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: the nutritional needs of babies. That year, more than thirty 275 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: five hundred people, including parents, benefited from some kind of 276 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,640 Speaker 1: care aboard the ship, and there were only three deaths. 277 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: All of that growth made it obvious that chartering a 278 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: barge was no longer practical and the Floating Hospital should 279 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:51,919 Speaker 1: just purchase the Clifford. The Floating Hospital was already a 280 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,399 Speaker 1: popular charity, in part because of feel good coverage in 281 00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 1: Boston area newspapers, and fundraising to buy the barge led 282 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:04,120 Speaker 1: to the establishment of named days, with larger donors having 283 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,679 Speaker 1: a day of sailing named after them. Later on, the 284 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:12,160 Speaker 1: hospital would do something similar with named beds. The hospital 285 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:15,919 Speaker 1: purchased the barge in eighteen ninety seven and re outfitted 286 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,200 Speaker 1: it to be permanently a hospital ship and to accommodate 287 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: about two hundred patients at a time. Owning the barge 288 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:27,920 Speaker 1: created some new opportunities for the hospital. Previously, children who 289 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: needed additional care at the hospital could be issued a 290 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: ticket for a subsequent sailing before disembarking, but especially in 291 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: the first couple of years, that next sailing might not 292 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,879 Speaker 1: be on the following day. Owning the barge meant that 293 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 1: the hospital could establish an inpatient department for twenty four 294 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:49,840 Speaker 1: hour care of very sick children. The inpatient ward was 295 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:53,399 Speaker 1: described this way quote for here are between fifty and 296 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 1: sixty of the sickest babies in Boston and Vicinity. Some 297 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: of them have been selected from the sickest ones, brought 298 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:03,360 Speaker 1: to the upper deck, and the parents persuaded to give 299 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,520 Speaker 1: them their only chance of life, which lies in careful, 300 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 1: persistent watching and nursing. By far the larger part, however, 301 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: are sent by the physicians of the city, who have 302 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 1: come to realize that here is a last resort well 303 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:22,600 Speaker 1: worth trying. But this created a new need. Temperatures typically 304 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:26,239 Speaker 1: dropped overnight, but in the process it also became a 305 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: lot more humid around the harbor. The ship was very 306 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 1: well ventilated. It was intentionally set up to get fresh 307 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,720 Speaker 1: air into the wards, but that hot stickiness could make 308 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:42,280 Speaker 1: conditions on board really miserable, and patients often got worse 309 00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: overnight because of it. In some cases, critically ill children died, 310 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:49,919 Speaker 1: and their cause of death was ultimately traced back to 311 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,920 Speaker 1: the heat or the humidity. This was particularly true during 312 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 1: an exceptionally hot summer in eighteen ninety eight. So they 313 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,439 Speaker 1: got air conditioning. In the words of a nineteen oh 314 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 1: three historical sketch of the hospital quote, next to the 315 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:07,560 Speaker 1: purchase of the barge, the most important event in the 316 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,639 Speaker 1: history of the floating hospital was the installation of what 317 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 1: is now known as the atmospheric plant, which, to quote 318 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,159 Speaker 1: one of our physicians, brings October weather into dog days. 319 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: Since the adoption of the permanent patient department, the good 320 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,000 Speaker 1: results accruing to this class of patients in the daytime 321 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: on the open water were largely neutralized by the humidity 322 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: of the August nights. This system was modified from ones 323 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:38,080 Speaker 1: that were being used in chocolate factories, and its use 324 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: at the Floating Hospital created one of the earliest air 325 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: conditioned hospital wards in the United States, if not the earliest. 326 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,719 Speaker 1: Here is how the atmospheric plant worked, drawn from that 327 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:52,840 Speaker 1: same nineteen oh three ride up quote. The air furnished 328 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 1: the wards as drawn by the suction of a fan 329 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: down a duct from above the upper deck into a 330 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,200 Speaker 1: receiver in the hold In this receiver is placed two 331 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 1: series of coils, one series being connected with the brine 332 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: tank and through which circulates a brine at a temperature 333 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,160 Speaker 1: of about ten degrees fahrenheit, and the other series being 334 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: joined to an exhaust steam pipe, enabling steam to be 335 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:20,159 Speaker 1: used for heating when necessary. The air when entering the 336 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: receiver passes over the brine coils, and a large percent 337 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 1: of its moisture is condensed on the coils. This action 338 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 1: is analogous to that observed in the winter of the 339 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,600 Speaker 1: moisture of the air of a warm steam room condensing 340 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: on a window pane cooled by the outside air. Then 341 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: the air passes over the steam coils, is heated to 342 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 1: any desirable temperature and thus forced by the fan through 343 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,560 Speaker 1: the ducts into the wards. The quantity of air circulated 344 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: is about two thousand cubic feet per minute, which gives 345 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,440 Speaker 1: an average of more than fifty cubic feet per person 346 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:58,439 Speaker 1: per minute, an amount satisfactory to the most critical and 347 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: which is obtained by very few ventilating systems. That ten 348 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,639 Speaker 1: degree brine was made with ammonia, and this system allowed 349 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,959 Speaker 1: the air in the wards to remain at about seventy 350 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 1: four degrees fahrenheit or about twenty three celsius and about 351 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 1: fifty percent relative humidity regardless of the weather outside. The 352 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:21,879 Speaker 1: atmospheric plant was installed in eighteen ninety nine, and that 353 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:26,199 Speaker 1: same year a postgraduate nursing program was established at the 354 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: Floating Hospital. It incorporated eleven or twelve lectures over the 355 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: course of the season and hands on work with the 356 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,920 Speaker 1: children who were being cared for on the ship. This 357 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 1: transitioned a lot of the nursing care on board from 358 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:45,160 Speaker 1: volunteers to trained nurses who were continuing their education. By 359 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,399 Speaker 1: nineteen oh six, one hundred and thirteen nurses had earned 360 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: postgraduate certificates from this program. In nineteen oh one, the 361 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 1: Floating Hospital added a pathology lab, and it also started 362 00:22:56,800 --> 00:23:00,439 Speaker 1: raising funds to build a new, purpose built ship. It 363 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 1: wasn't just that the hospital's scope had grown so far. 364 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:06,720 Speaker 1: Beyond the benefits of fresh air and basic medical care 365 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 1: for sick children, demand had grown as well, and by 366 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,639 Speaker 1: nineteen oh two staff were having to turn sick children 367 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:17,679 Speaker 1: away because there were just no more available beds. In 368 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,920 Speaker 1: nineteen oh five, twenty five children had to be turned 369 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:24,960 Speaker 1: away on a single day. The new ship set sail 370 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: the following year, and we will talk about it after 371 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:36,639 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. The Boston Floating Hospital's new ship was 372 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,360 Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy one feet or about fifty two 373 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:43,360 Speaker 1: meters long. It had a steel hull and a wooden superstructure, 374 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: and it was built to be able to have its 375 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 1: own steam engine, unlike the Clifford that had to be 376 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:52,160 Speaker 1: towed by a barge. The ship's new engine was installed 377 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: before its second season in service, so if that first 378 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,960 Speaker 1: season still being towed around that atmospheric plant from the 379 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:02,160 Speaker 1: Clifford was also modified and installed on the new boat. 380 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 1: The Boston Floating Hospital started its nineteen oh six season 381 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,399 Speaker 1: aboard the Clifford because the purpose built ship wasn't ready yet. 382 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: A steel strike had caused some delays in its construction. 383 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:17,800 Speaker 1: The hospital moved to its new ship on August fourteenth, 384 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: nineteen oh six. The new ship was staffed by a 385 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:26,199 Speaker 1: resident physician, several medical assistants, and between forty and fifty 386 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: graduate nurses, and then there were also visiting physicians who 387 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,880 Speaker 1: were part of the patient's care. That had four decks, 388 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,480 Speaker 1: all of them with hot and cold running water. There 389 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,840 Speaker 1: was an operating room, a food lab, a clinical lab, 390 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,439 Speaker 1: a pharmacy, a kitchen, and a cafeteria to serve meals 391 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: to the parents and healthy children. The ship had state 392 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,880 Speaker 1: rooms for staff who were there overnight, and it still 393 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: had the kindergarten that had been set up for the 394 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 1: healthy children on the Clifford. The hold contained a laundry 395 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: and equipment for sterilizing linens, as well as a mortuary 396 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: and an autol room. A nineteen oh six write up 397 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,160 Speaker 1: about the new ship described it this way quote, there 398 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: are about sixty cribs grouped in four wards. Ward D 399 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: has windows on two sides which allow of nearly complete 400 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: opening of the walls to fresh air. Ward C has 401 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 1: no walls, only curtains, and is used chiefly for tuberculosis cases. 402 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: Wards A and B are more completely protected and are 403 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,400 Speaker 1: supplied with an abundance of air at just the right 404 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:33,560 Speaker 1: temperature and humidity by our atmospheric plant. No contagious cases 405 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:36,920 Speaker 1: are taken in case one develops while the boat is 406 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,199 Speaker 1: away from the wharf or is smuggled in. It is 407 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:45,439 Speaker 1: as completely isolated as possible. Side note, I am a 408 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:50,359 Speaker 1: little unclear on exactly how people were thinking of contagious 409 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: while the floating hospital was operating. On the one hand, 410 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,440 Speaker 1: going back to its inception, the tickets had always clearly 411 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:02,919 Speaker 1: stated that children with cantagious disease were not admitted, but 412 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 1: like what Holly just read referenced tuberculous cases, tuberculosis had 413 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: been defined as a contagious illness by like the sixteenth century. 414 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: Robert Coke had presented findings isolating the tuberculosis bacillis in 415 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:20,679 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two, so people knew that tuberculosis was contagious. 416 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: A lot of the diseases that were grouped together as 417 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:28,440 Speaker 1: cholera and phantom were also spread through contaminated food or water, 418 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:33,119 Speaker 1: or from person to person through inadequate hygiene, so that 419 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 1: is also contagious. The focus on keeping contagious illnesses out 420 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: of the floating hospital might have just been more focused 421 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: on the diseases that were known to cause sudden, serious 422 00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: outbreaks among children, so things like diphtheria and measles. At 423 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: the same time, preventing disease spread on board the ship 424 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,560 Speaker 1: had always been a priority, going back to its very 425 00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: first voyages. Aboard the Clifford, the staff treated all cases 426 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 1: of diarrheal illness as though they were contagious. Medical and 427 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:10,120 Speaker 1: nursing staff practiced thorough hand washing and infection control procedures. 428 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,720 Speaker 1: Linens were steam sanitized, and the wards were regularly disinfected. 429 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,200 Speaker 1: The purpose built ship was constructed so that words could 430 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,639 Speaker 1: be opened to the fresh air while also being isolated 431 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 1: from one another, so that one could be disinfected or 432 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,480 Speaker 1: fumigated without affecting care that was going on in the others. 433 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,960 Speaker 1: Milk was also tested for bacterial contamination in the food lab, 434 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,199 Speaker 1: and the opening of the pathology lab allowed doctors to 435 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: confirm diagnoses of various infectious diseases, as well as to 436 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:45,439 Speaker 1: look for the specific causes of cholera and phantom. Another 437 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:50,320 Speaker 1: priority was fire safety. There were daily fire drills on board, 438 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:55,960 Speaker 1: including practicing lowering the lifeboats and nurses practice passing bundles 439 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,960 Speaker 1: of cloth back and forth in the place of the babies. 440 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: They would need to be a vacating if a fire happens. 441 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,320 Speaker 1: By this point, the floating hospital wasn't exactly framing itself 442 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: as a research hospital. Its primary focus had always been 443 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 1: the care of children and the education of their parents 444 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: and caregivers on how to treat and prevent the illnesses 445 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 1: they were susceptible to. In the summer, but it was 446 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: unique in that it was devoted solely to children's care 447 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,119 Speaker 1: in the summer, which meant the doctors and nurses who 448 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 1: worked there and other researchers who visited could learn more 449 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 1: about these diseases over time. This included doctor Simon Flexner 450 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,640 Speaker 1: of the University of Pennsylvania, who visited for bacterial research. 451 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: In nineteen oh three. Flexner had identified the bacterium known 452 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: as Shigella flexneri, which is one of the causes of 453 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: diarrheal illness. In nineteen hundred, one of the ongoing issues 454 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: that the hospital had been feeding the patients. As we 455 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,560 Speaker 1: said earlier, the hospital was a popular charity, and that 456 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: included grocery stores and other businesses donating food for the 457 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 1: adults and the older children. Cow's milk was also donated 458 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 1: by hp Hood Dairy, which was following very strict cleanliness 459 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:14,360 Speaker 1: and hygiene standards for the hospital's milk, so much so 460 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: that the hospital tested it for bacterial contamination but didn't 461 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: pasteurize it. Children were also being sent home from the 462 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,719 Speaker 1: hospital with enough milk for twenty four hours when they 463 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 1: were discharged. The food lab had an apparatus for processing 464 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 1: modifying and bottling human milk now went back to before 465 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:38,680 Speaker 1: the purpose built ship that made cow's milk more suitable 466 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: for human babies, but having enough milk and being confident 467 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: about its nutritional value for the babies was still a problem. 468 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 1: Francis Parkman Denny, who ran the milk lab, was also 469 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 1: an advocate of babies being fed human breast milk. Specifically, 470 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,520 Speaker 1: he thought there were ferments in the milk that activated 471 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,800 Speaker 1: ferments in the baby's blood, and that these ferments had 472 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: a bactericidal effect and improved the baby's digestion. One of 473 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 1: the ways he tried to improve access to breast milk 474 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: at the Floating Hospital was by working with the Boston 475 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: Wetnurse Directory, which was established by Fritz Bradley Talbot in 476 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 1: nineteen ten. Talbot and Denny were both visiting physicians at 477 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,680 Speaker 1: the Massachusetts Infant Asylum, which went by MIA, which was 478 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: a home for orphaned and abandoned children. Talbot saw this 479 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: directory as a way to help the babies at the 480 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 1: asylum and to help the wet nurses. The wet nursers 481 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: were often very young and unmarried and really didn't have 482 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:43,960 Speaker 1: another way to support themselves in their children Unlike most 483 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: other wet nurse jobs, nurses who were hired through Talbot's 484 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: directory were allowed to keep their own children with them, 485 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 1: and they fed those children themselves along with the children 486 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:57,920 Speaker 1: they were being paid to feed. Nurses from the directory 487 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 1: were paid eight dollars a week, plus their room and board. 488 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 1: There was also a breast milk collection program at the 489 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 1: Floating Hospital, which Denny started in nineteen oh nine. The 490 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:12,560 Speaker 1: hospital paid sixty cents per court of collected breast milk. 491 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:17,000 Speaker 1: Participants in this program were given physical exams and screened 492 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:21,480 Speaker 1: for tuberculosis and syphilis. The hospital provided them with breast 493 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: pumps and trained them on how to use and sanitize them, 494 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: and to store the pumped milk on ice. Participants in 495 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: this program were often a little more affluent than the 496 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 1: wet nurses. They didn't need lodging in addition to their pay. 497 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:39,160 Speaker 1: Sometimes these were women whose children had died or who 498 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: just wanted to give something back to the hospital after 499 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 1: their children had received medical treatment there. By the nineteen teens, 500 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: researchers at the Floating Hospital's food lab were also really 501 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:55,040 Speaker 1: making advances and developing shelf stable powders that would mimic 502 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 1: human breast milk as closely as possible. The hospital already 503 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: had a quick meant that could dehydrate milk products to 504 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:06,920 Speaker 1: be reconstituted later, but this also involved research into the 505 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: chemical composition of milk from both cows and humans. This 506 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:15,880 Speaker 1: research was overseen by doctor Alfred Bosworth, who was director 507 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 1: of research at the hospital. Louise Giblin, who was one 508 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:22,120 Speaker 1: of the few women chemists in the United States at 509 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 1: this point, was a critical part of the day to 510 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: day work on this Eventually their work led to the 511 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:32,360 Speaker 1: development of the infant formula Similac, although that was after 512 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,640 Speaker 1: Bosworth had moved on from the Floating Hospital. He went 513 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,240 Speaker 1: to work for Kellogg's for a while before he started 514 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:43,160 Speaker 1: his own company. By the nineteen twenties, rates of childhood 515 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: death from summer illnesses in Boston had dropped significantly. Massachusetts 516 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,800 Speaker 1: started requiring milk to be pasteurized in nineteen twenty one, 517 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: which dramatically reduced the spread of milk borne illnesses. The 518 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 1: city had also improved its sewage system, which removed another 519 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: source of spread for diarrheal illnesses. The Floating Hospital and 520 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: other healthcare systems in the city had improved public health 521 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:12,040 Speaker 1: and medical care for children. The death rate from summertime 522 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:16,120 Speaker 1: diarrheal illnesses had been thirty to forty percent in Boston 523 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: at the end of the nineteenth century, and in nineteen 524 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: twenty six it had dropped to a little more than 525 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:25,520 Speaker 1: twelve percent. On July one, nineteen twenty seven, the Boston 526 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:29,840 Speaker 1: Floating Hospital caught fire and it burned down to the hull. 527 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,400 Speaker 1: The cause of the fire is not known, but it 528 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: may have spread to the ship from the dock. The 529 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: hospital season hadn't started yet, so there were no patients 530 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: or hospital staff on board, and the crew members who 531 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:47,400 Speaker 1: were there safely evacuated. Initially, there were plans to rebuild 532 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: the ship, but the hospital had really outgrown in Instead, 533 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 1: the ship was rebuilt as a tanker and operated as 534 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:57,520 Speaker 1: the Marshall B Hall until it left service and was 535 00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: scrapped in nineteen fifty two. The insurance payout from the 536 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,840 Speaker 1: fire was used to help build a new pediatric hospital, 537 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:09,400 Speaker 1: this time though on land. The original facility, still called 538 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,480 Speaker 1: the Floating Hospital, was on Ash Street. It opened in 539 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:16,160 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one. Care at that hospital continued to be 540 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:21,279 Speaker 1: free until nineteen thirty eight. The Boston Floating Hospital went 541 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: through a series of relocations and changes and mergers over 542 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: the years that followed. It joined the New England Medical 543 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:32,520 Speaker 1: Center Consortium. In nineteen thirty, it partnered with Tough School 544 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:36,320 Speaker 1: of Medicine and the Boston Dispensary, and it later merged 545 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 1: with those institutions. It continued to be known as the 546 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: Floating Hospital until twenty twenty, when it was renamed Tuff's 547 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:49,120 Speaker 1: Medical Center. In January of twenty twenty two, Tuffts announced 548 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: that it was closing the forty one bed inpatient pediatric 549 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,480 Speaker 1: unit at the hospital and converting that to ICU space 550 00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:00,400 Speaker 1: for adults. I cannot speak to the legitimacy of Huff's 551 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:05,440 Speaker 1: financial and personnel decisions, but people in Boston were furious. 552 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,600 Speaker 1: Although New York's Floating Hospital, which had served as an 553 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:13,520 Speaker 1: inspiration for the Boston Floating Hospital, no longer operates on 554 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 1: the water today, it does still exist as a nonprofit 555 00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 1: organization focused on medically underserved communities there. And that's your 556 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,720 Speaker 1: episode about saving some babies, saving a lot of babies. 557 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,640 Speaker 1: Do you have listener mail? Yeah, so this is from 558 00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:33,240 Speaker 1: jesse Ann, and jesse Anne wrote and said, Hi, Holly 559 00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: and Tracy, I just finished listening to the episodes this 560 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:40,000 Speaker 1: week about the Vietnam draft board raids. Hearing the names 561 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,400 Speaker 1: Philip and Daniel Berrigan took me back to college real quick. 562 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: My bachelor's is in Religious studies, a history of religion 563 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:49,920 Speaker 1: degree and not a theology degree, and one semester I 564 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,760 Speaker 1: took a class called Global Justice. Part of this class 565 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:58,080 Speaker 1: involved learning about religious movements geared towards social justice and 566 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,920 Speaker 1: the approaches to justice very thinkers took. Being one of 567 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,440 Speaker 1: those nerdy kids. I still have my notebooks from college 568 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: and most of the papers I wrote. One of the 569 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:10,720 Speaker 1: papers I wrote in that class was on Philip Berrigan's autobiography, 570 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:14,239 Speaker 1: Fighting the Lamb's War. The part about the brothers that 571 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,879 Speaker 1: has always stuck out to me wasn't what he did 572 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:19,600 Speaker 1: with the draft cards steering the Vietnam War, but that 573 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:23,080 Speaker 1: after the war he and others broke into a warhead 574 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,359 Speaker 1: storage area and hammered on the warheads. This was some 575 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:30,520 Speaker 1: of what Philip wrote about in the book. Their Plowshares actions, 576 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,920 Speaker 1: which began with the first break into a warhead storage 577 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,480 Speaker 1: facility in nineteen eighty, got their name from Isaiah Chapter two, 578 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:41,839 Speaker 1: verse four. They shall beat swords into plowshares and their 579 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:45,520 Speaker 1: spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword 580 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:50,279 Speaker 1: against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore. Aside from 581 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,719 Speaker 1: the book, another place you and others can see more 582 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:56,399 Speaker 1: of their impact is by going to Jonahhouse dot Org, 583 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:58,640 Speaker 1: which was a community Philip and his wife were a 584 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,960 Speaker 1: part of. Good who made the comment during the episode 585 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,680 Speaker 1: that the brothers are interesting, but I agree so much 586 00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:07,080 Speaker 1: with that. Growing up Catholic, I wish I had been 587 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:10,719 Speaker 1: taught about the social activism they and other Catholics had 588 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 1: throughout history. I've attached pictures of the cats my brother 589 00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:16,560 Speaker 1: and I had growing up. The black cat was my 590 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:19,439 Speaker 1: brother's and his name was Leather. He was a hunter 591 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:21,799 Speaker 1: and enjoyed leaving presents at the back door for us. 592 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:25,080 Speaker 1: The textedo cat was mine and her name was Hearts. 593 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:27,680 Speaker 1: In the picture of my brother holding her, you can 594 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,760 Speaker 1: see the black patch in her paw shaped like a heart. 595 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:34,239 Speaker 1: She liked to bring lizards and crickets inside to terrorize 596 00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:36,560 Speaker 1: us until we caught them and took them away from her. 597 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,560 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for bringing up some people in history 598 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:41,920 Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about in years. Jesse and Jesse, and 599 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,120 Speaker 1: thank you for these kitty cat pictures Kitty. Our kitty 600 00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:51,880 Speaker 1: cats are exclusively indoor kitty cats, but on the occasion 601 00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: that a rodent or insect or etc. Gets into the house, 602 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:04,200 Speaker 1: they immediately go after it. We have adorable pictures of 603 00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:10,640 Speaker 1: cats lounging in the most lounging ways. So thank you 604 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:15,120 Speaker 1: so much, Jesse, and for your email. If you would 605 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:18,239 Speaker 1: like to send us a note about this or any 606 00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 1: other podcasts or history podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. You 607 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:24,759 Speaker 1: can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app and 608 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:32,120 Speaker 1: anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. Stuff you 609 00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:35,279 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For 610 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:39,799 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 611 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,799 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.