Combined by popular request

I found him wandering the hallways, staring deeply at the various stains and peeking into the patient's rooms.

"Dr. Vanderbilt," I greet, "It is a wonder to meet you."

He raised a hand, as if to ward off my words. "I'm afraid I have no tome for formalities nowadays. What's your name young lady?" 

"My name is Eleanor Karpfrinstein, but please call me Eleanor. I am a nurse of the hospital."

"Ah, so you are the one I am looking for, can I hope to have you as a guide for this hospital?"

"Certainly, that is why I am here, I have been asked to inform tou that the director was none to pleased by your sudden visit."

He chuckled at that, as if he heard some halfway comical joke. "When you get as old as I am, you'll find no sympathy for those caught off guard. Come, let's begin our tour."

And we began, though I must admit I was slightly intimidated to be walking next to such a metaphorical giant of man while I achieved so little in my short career, but steeling my heart I lead him on a tour. And what a tour it was! For an older gentleman, he had the curiousity of a little one, I would often lose him when passing by rooms, only to find him inside talking to anyone he could find about their experience with the hospital and life in general. He would also just stop in place behind me, inspecting some part of the wall or floor. On occasion I would be the one following him into some ill-used, dusty corner of the hospital. We'd hardly made it to the break rooms when he wandered off yet again to watch an ongoing surgery.

How to describe what I saw... Well, first it must be known that the surgeons were amputating the patient's leg because of an untreated infection on his calf. They had some burly fellows holding the still lucid patient down as he struggled against the pain, meanwhile the surgeon, an old hand judging by his blood-caked tools and apron, quickly and efficiently tore through the top part of the thigh. Within a minute it was over, and Dr. Vanderbilt was walking forward to talk to the surgeon.

"Hello there my good man, I am Dr. Vanderbilt, I had some questions on how surgery is normally done in this hospital."

"Good day Dr. Vanderbilt, I'm afraid I'm rather busy and unable to bear any formalities. What would you like to know?" 

"No worries, I was never one for formalities myself. I wanted to ask if that was normally how operations go in New Winstam."

"Well, I would say it is, anesthesia is normally not used for any but the most delicate operation, due to dosage issues."

"Dosage issues?"

"Well it's hard to know how much anesthesia we can hit the patient with without killing them. So we have to do surgeries with a lucid patient despite how unpleasant it is."

"I see, thank you I will be on my way now."

As we were walking away,, Dr. Vanderbilt started talking, "Nurse Eleanor, I presume these conditions are the same in all of the hospitals?"

"And how would I know that Dr. Vanderbilt?"

He looked at me, "You don't seem to know any of the staff working here, but you aren't in any way disgusted on what the hospital shows, so I presumed you transferred here recently."

"And you would be right, to tell the truth, all the hospitals in New Winstam are like this, some have more stains on the wall and others, those black hospitals, seem more like the setting for a Gothic novel than a hospital."

"I see."

"Oh, and congratulations on your appointment Dr. Vanderbilt."

He chuckled, seemingly pleased to be reminded, "And what an appointment it is, Nurse Eleanor."

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Polio is a new disease in Winstam, only appearing after the filth scare a few decades ago. Which is odd, because there shouldn't be any bad air nor invisible killers still lingering, if the germ theory activists and detractors are to be believed, then there shouldn't be any disease afflicting old Winstam at all, yet Polio remains.

Dr. Vanderbilt walked through the freshly cleaned cobblestone road surrounded by whitewashed houses. He couldn't help but notice the discrepancy between old and new Winstam, there the streets were a sickening mix of strange colors that a man left noticable footprints in, but here the streets were clean, obsessively so. In new Winstam latrines lived in various backways and sewage flowed through gutters while old Winstam actually has a sewer system, financed by wealthy sponsors. Not to mention the aggressive cleaning done inside the homes in old Winstam. Perhaps this is what heaven looks like, it is a custodian's heaven in any case.

Speaking of custodians, the contact that Vanderbilt arranged for has arrived, a Mr. Emmanuel Clein. The description the docotr recieved include terms such as "impeccably dressed" and "germophobic," naturally Vanderbilt noticed immediately when a janitor wearing a mysteriously clean suit and a spotless pair of white gloves waltzed his way out of a nearby house.

"So you must be Mr. Clein, pleasure to meet you. I am Dr. Vanderbilt, I hope you got the notice for our meeting." Vanderbilt obviously didn't offer a handshake during this greeting.

"Ah, Minister Vanderbilt, a pleasure to meet you." Mr. Clein said while checking his watch. "I have a smidgen of time until I need to move on to my next client so ask what you will."

"Then I must take you up on your offer, as a custodian and a germophobe, you must know the sanitation of old Winstam intimately. Can you describe it to me?"

"Well, if you're asking about my specialty..." Clein lead a tour throughout old Winstam, describing how the janitors became even more meticulous after the Polio affair began, additionally remarking that even he felt somewhat safe on the various surfaces of the city. Vanderbilt stopped to question anyone he could find over the state of the food, water, if there were any bad smells recently, and anything else he could think of. 

It was ultimately fruitless, old Winstam was a place so free of health pitfalls it was practically gleaming. The same is true of site zero for the Polio epidemics over the past few decades. Even the occasional black fellow, people so often berefit of any medical services, had a perfectly clean bill of health. Whatever is happening here, it is happening despite every possible measure taken to prevent it.

Hospitals and Polio, two problems seemingly similar in their relation to health, but remarkably different in circumstance.