Conference of Officers in Charge of Government Hospitals Serving Veterans of the World War
History
Conference of Officers in Charge of Government Hospitals Serving Veterans of the World War
Medicine, Military; Military hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Veterans -- Medical care -- United States
It undertook this problem and, under the legislation, sought to meet the
responsibility in several ways. By the transfer to its jurisdiction of
facilities used by the Army and Navy during the war, by the purchase of
such facilities as were available and within the moderate appropriation,
by the leasing of fairly suitable places and their conversion to
hospital purposes, and by making contracts with civilian hospitals all
over the United States for the care of veterans, this Service was able
to furnish facilities with rapidity. These facilities were by no means
always desirable, but at least it may be said that the Public Health
Service was enabled to keep pace with the demand and to supply to all
veterans who applied some form of hospital care and treatment.
The administrative organization, which had been formed under the law,
for the care of veterans, included three bureaus, namely; the Bureau of
War Risk Insurance, the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and the
Public Health Service. This organisation, while it was the best that
could be formed under the circumstances, left a good deal to be desired,
and was the cause of much criticism and no little dissatisfaction.
Matters became so urgent finally that, under the President’s direction,
certain changes were made, and later, by act of Congress, even more
radical changes were made, all with the ultimate tendency of
concentrating in one organisation the entire responsibility for all
matters affecting veterans of the World War. This culminated in the
passage of legislation creating the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau and charging
that Bureau with the full responsibility for all matters affecting
veterans. (Aug. 19, 1921.)
In the legislation creating this Bureau, however, the Director of the
Newly created Bureau was authorized, in giving hospital care and
treatment to his beneficiaries, to make use of certain official
agencies, and among these the Public Health Service, which at that time
was carrying most of the medical work for veterans, and in fact this
Service is still supplying by far the largest number of hospital beds
for their care.
Under this new legislation, adjustments were made as rapidly as
possible, and are still going on, with the result that the present
situation of the Public Health Service in this responsibility is fairly
clearly defined for the first time since it has undertaken this work.
The U. S. Veterans’ Bureau has now taken over, or will shortly take
over, from the Public Health Service all of the responsibility and all
of the work involved, with the exception of the operation of hospitals.
The work taken over by the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau includes the entire
responsibility for the operation of all outpatient departments for the
care of veterans. Thus the Public Health Service is now left simply as a
hospitalizing agency for the use of the Director of the Veterans’
Bureau.
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