of our patients, have recently been so certified, and are now awaiting
transportation to their home island.**
Ambulatory patients lived in small one room houses on the leprosarium grounds andprepared their food in cook houses assigned to
people from their particular area of the Trust Territory. Each person
was free to decorate his house and plant his tiny piece of land as he
desired and the effect, looking beyond the quonset construction of the
hospital facilities, was of a colorful toy village nestling on a cliff at the
edge of a blue ocean.
The patients who were in sufficiently good health worked if they
wished. Of the 112 patients at Tinian in the spring of 1951, 58 were
employed on a five day week basis:
30 worked on the produce and livestock farms, leprosarium grounds, and
plant nursery.
rO were maintenance men engaged in carpentry, tire repair and running
the motor whale boat.
10 worked in the hospital as nurses aides, x-ray and laboratory assistants,
cooks and food handlers.
2 workedin the patient’s store and food issue room.
3 worked in the central laundry.
1 cared for the school-recreation hail.
1 was a barber.
1 assisted in the sewing room.
In addition to their regular jobs, all patients could fish when they
so desired. The Navy had given them a motor whaleboat and the
Marshallese had sent them a large outrigger canoe.
Those who worked received $2.50 per week andall others received
$1.00 per week. During the fiscal year 1950-1951, the administration
granted $9600.00 for patients’ pay. The money earnedbyor given to
each person was deposited to his credit at the leprosarium store and
purchases deducted from this sum.
At the end of each quarter,
patients could withdraw the amount left to their credit.
‘The store was set up in the spring of 1949 and CivAdSaipan was
directed to stock it with $2000 worthof goods purchased from any
naval supply activity or the Island Trading Company, Guam,” and
charged to the Island Government, Navy, appropriation for mainee
: McNeilly, Op. cit. 70,
. DepHiComTerPac!s ltr ser 694 dtd 7 Apr qg.
Saipan had no ITC activity,
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