Baltimore General, is of immense reassurance to you and to your
people. Proximity is important, we all realize this, but much more
than this, it is what you find and who you find ready to serve you
when you are brought to a hospital. Heaven only knows how an
already full South Baltimore General took care of the more than 100
injured brought to it on a Sunday afternoon in the mid-50's as a
result of the terrifying fire that swept through Arundel Park Audi-
torium. Nor how the hospital managed to take care of many of the
victims of the train wreck at Severn, also in the mid-50's, when five
persons were killed and 100 were injured. And those of you involved
with port activities must surely recall when 127 longshoremen were
overcome with deadly chlorine gas that leaked out and covered Locust
Point piers two years ago. South Baltimore General Hospital again
distinguished itself by caring for 107 of the 127 in this emergency.
No one, of course, wants more of these imagination-defying accidents
or disasters, but you and I know we must be prepared for them. South
Baltimore General has proved itself in the past. We must give these
men and women who compose its medical, nursing and administrative
staff the facilities to serve us as well in the future.

Your State leaders have sought to create an atmosphere, a climate
in which the medical requirements of our people can best be met.
Your State government has been particularly concerned with that
essential need of the people. I have, for instance, made money avail-
able for the building of nursing homes; and I have approved sub-
stantially larger annual expenditures to pay for the care of the medi-
cally indigent throughout the State. I believe this program for the
medically indigent is as advanced as any in the country. Additionally,
both by funds and specific program I have sought to advance medical
assistance for the aged, for alcoholics, for the mentally disturbed, for
retarded, for tubercular patients; and also to improve the facilities
for the treatment of chronic diseases and the quality of care in nursing
homes. Last year, an initial substantial help was given to Provident
Hospital on a basis which is making it possible for that worthwhile
reconstruction to be placed underway.

I have this year requested the Legislative Council to consider legis-
lation to give effect to a proposal submitted by the State Planning
Commission, by which the voluntary non-profit hospitals of Maryland
— such as South Baltimore General — may find it possible to construct
the expansion, modernization and relocation of their facilities. The
proposal contemplates that long-term, low-cost loans for a substantial
proportion of the construction cost will be made available by the State

358