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

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Seattle, Wash., Tuesday—This is a red-letter day in the family. The children could hardly bear to go this school this morning because they wished to be home when Anna and the baby arrived. I don't think the question as to whether Curtis could crow over Eleanor or whether she could crow over him, was ever settled—because he returns for lunch at noon, then goes back to school, while she returns earlier in the afternoon.

The two dogs were the ones who showed their joy most noisily. "Jack", the red male setter, who usually stays as close to Anna as he can, was quite pathetic when the baby was put down on the bed and Anna sat down beside it. He smelled the bundle all over with care and then lay down and put his paw on Anna's knee, as much as to say: "If it belongs to you, it's all right, but I don't quite understand it." At the baby's first wail, he cocked his ears and looked perplexed, but Anna assured him that this was his baby and held him out for "Jack" to investigate and, I think, from now on, the friendship is made.

It was nearly lunchtime when we reached home, so Curtis came dashing in, glanced at the baby in his room, and then settled himself beside his, mother in her sitting room, where we all had lunch together. A very happy family party. It was nice to have the sun shine on this drive home, for it brought out the green in lawns and trees and the beauty of every color in the landscape. Nature has taken a jump toward summer since my last visit. Anna could hardly believe that so many flowers and shrubs and trees could have come out in the three weeks that she has been in the hospital.

While she was preparing to start this morning, John and I were taken through the cancer clinic by Dr. O'Shea. This clinic, at Swedish Hospital, has equipment for treatment which can only be found in two or three other institutions in the United States. They treat both with x-rays and radium and make all their own photographs. We had a rather interesting discussion on the value of the crusades which are being carried on throughout the country to educate people in detecting signs of this dread disease in the early stages.

One doctor felt that the ignorance of the public was such a great factor in the number of deaths from cancer that this crusade was absolutely vital, while another one insisted that the education of doctors, themselves, was almost more important, for frequently a patient had been treated for some time by a doctor who had not recognized that they needed special treatment.

Undoubtedly the public should know more, and the standards for doctors should be raised. This last can hardly be done, however, when the economic situation is as it is today. So many doctors in small towns and rural communities make so little that, even if they have had good training, it is almost impossible to give their patients the care which modern science makes possible, except at considerable cost. Some changes must come, but just what they will be, committees, such as Miss Roche's, will have to decide with the aid of the medical profession and the interested citizens in every community.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1939, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Geographic
  • Seattle (Wash., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, April 19, 1939

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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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project

Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.

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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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