Senate Joint Resolution No. 53, agreed to by the Senate and the House of Delegates on March 12, 1960, directed the Commission for Economy in Governmental Expenditures to make a study of the programs being conducted at the several sanatoria and other institutions for the care of tubercular patients. This Resolution also directed the Committee to determine the number of aged and senile persons being cared for in such institutions and in institutions under the control of the Department of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals and to ascertain whether it is possible to provide custody and care for such persons more economically than is now being done.

Pursuant to the Resolution, the Committee considered the programs being conducted at the several State sanatoria for purposes of obtaining the information sought by the Resolution with respect to the sanatoria; determined the number of aged and senile persons being cared for in these institutions as well as the institutions under the control of the Department of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals; and procured information relating to the care arid custody of senile and aged persons in private agencies so that it could be determined whether it is possible to provide custody and care of such persons in State institutions more economically than is now being done.

In the conduct of this study the Commission was aided by the Auditor of Public Accounts, its Executive Secretary, and his staff and utilized the services of its consultant, Mr. Wesley R. Ellms of the firm of Worden & Risberg, Management Consultants, in making a special utilization study of the facilities of Blue Ridge and Catawba Sanatoria. In addition thereto the Commission received the full cooperation and assistance of Dr. Mack I. Shanholtz, State Health Commissioner; Dr. Hiram W. Davis, Commissioner of the Department of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals; the late Colonel Richard W. Copeland, Director of the Department of Welfare and Institutions; and the superintendents of tubercular and mental hospitals and, the staffs of these institutions.

The Commission, its Executive Secretary, the Auditor of Public Accounts; and its consultant wish to acknowledge the splendid cooperation and the generous assistance of all of those who aided in its study.