Tuesday, March 9, 2021

The Baltimore General Dispensary

Our friend, Johns Hopkins (the person, not the institution) has been creating a five-minute educational and entertaining video series about Baltimore over the past year for Baltimore Heritage. The videos have covered subjects as diverse as Formstone, Lumbee Indian Heritage and the Ministry of Brewing. 

Baltimore Heritage just posted a video near and dear to our hearts here at MedChi. It's all about the dispensary movement, prevalent in the 1800's and into the early 1900's. In reviewing the biographies of our members during that period, many of them did a stint at the dispensaries in Baltimore. 

Dispensaries were mainly out-patient clinics for the poor. A wide range of people, including pregnant women, children, incurables and those with contagious diseases, were often excluded from inpatient hospital services, so this was the reason for the dispensary movement. 

There were at least 34 dispensaries in the city, including the First and Second; the North, West, East and South Dispensaries; Nervous Diseases; Eyes, Ears, Noses and Throats; Women and Children; Hebrews and Protestants; and even a homeopathic dispensary. 

One of the most interestingly-named is the Dispensary for Plaster of Paris Jackets and Free School. This dispensary was primarily for children suffering from curvature of the spine. The plaster jacket was changed frequently to help with the straightening.

I hope that you will take a few minutes to watch Johns explain about the dispensary movement in Baltimore. 

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