Their review of the physical conditions at Harlem Hospital revealed unfinished construction, unsanitary conditions, and a lack of resources. Medical equipment was antiquated, and overcrowding was a huge issue. “with a bed capacity of 325, it was not an unusual occurrence for the hospital to accommodate as many as 450 patients,” making it “more overcrowded than any other hospital” according to the city’s Commissioner of Hospitals.
The negro death rate is exorbitantly high in the very diseases in which lack of sanitation and medical care, and poverty are important factors.
The report described the assignment of public health nurses as “a deliberated attempt to establish a Jim Crow health set-up.
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