The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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SAN FRANCISCO, Friday—When I was in San Diego on Wednesday, I visited one hospital which was unique. Situated at the Naval Air Supply Base, it is not a government hospital. The Navy paid for the building, however, and Navy doctors give their services free. It is known as the Family Hospital and is open to Navy men dependents from all over this country.

The charges are comparatively low—$3.50 to $5.00 a day, and the care is excellent. Captain Gunther and Admiral Joel Boone are responsible for having established this helpful institution. There is now a small resident home near the hospital for the civilian nurses. The money for furnishing and equipping the hospital came from private gifts, and it is so well run that, from the time it was opened two years ago, the current expenses have been paid by the patients themselves.

As a morale builder it has made a great contribution. Admiral Boone told me that they had letters from men now at war in various parts of the Pacific, which express their gratitude and relief at knowing a new baby had been safely brought into the world, or a child or wife had been seen through some illness. If an enlisted man's dependents are unable to pay the hospital costs, they may appeal to the Navy Relief Society, which will pay the hospital in full and be repaid by the man in very small weekly allotments.

Wednesday afternoon, in San Diego, I went to a meeting in the parlor of the Methodist Church for Bethune-Cookman College. It is interesting to me that three meetings in behalf of this college have been arranged in the state of California. This shows there is recognition of the need for better understanding of our minority groups, and of the value of trained leaders who can create goodwill and prevent antagonism between people of different races.

I left San Diego Thursday by air. We were more than two hours late and, therefore, I had a very short time in Los Angeles. While there, I attended a meeting at Mrs. Melvyn Douglas' home and had an opportunity to see Dr. Remsen Bird and Mrs. Douglas while we drove back and forth between her house and the airport.

I was only a few minutes late in reaching San Francisco. The last part of the flight was very beautiful when the sunset turned the sky into a brilliant crimson. San Francisco is always an interesting city. Just now lights are dim at night, which makes it almost mysterious as the dusk deepens.

I found mail and a telegram to be answered at the hotel. Now I am meeting the press in a few minutes and then start out to visit the army and navy hospitals.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1942, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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  • San Francisco (Calif., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 3, 1942

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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