The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-03
HOTPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.
A New Medical staff Organz For the ST.
framed ospital.

The reorganization of the medical staff
of St. Francis hospital has just been COM
pleted and now consists of Dr.. Fordyce.
DR.. St. John, DR.. Hupp and DR.. Hamilton
the we'll Known eye and ear specialist.
DR.. Fordyce will be medical superintend-
ent and all of them have assumed their
duties and are anxious to make St.
Francis one of the best hospitals in the
west. They are highly elaued over the
prospects and are backed by strong en-
enlargement from the friends of the
institution and the charitably inclined
people generally.
Yesterday the hospital was visited by
! Drs. Fordyce and st. John, Captain
Slower the health officer of the
police department. Father Then
and Father Athanasius. Every room
was inspected and the visitors pronounced
it a model institution for the care and
comfort CT the sick. 1t has been recently
painted, inside and outside, from the
| foundation to the apex, and the furniture
and other appointments have been recent
ly renovated and added to. Some more
Improvements are contemplated which
will add materially to the usefulness of
the institution. In short time twenty
eight more rooms will be added to the
hospital. and they will form wing ex-
tending west from the present building
with one set of fourteen rooms facing
Tenth street and another set facing south
to the lawn, which will be also greatly
improved and beautified. These rooms
will be reserved altogether for those who
are helplesSly sick, while the main build
ing will be used for "A home for aged peo-
pie who are treading the downward path
of life without friends or money. The
sisters of the hospital have especially
soft hearts for the aged and infrm
and even now they are doing what they
possibly can to make the latter years of a
few old souls comfortable. They have one
old man there who is so old that he does
not know when he was born. He WAS ia
the celebrated East Indian mutiny. and
served nine years with the British army,
travelling over the burning sands of that
country. He has good deal of the mar
'ial spirit still locked up in his enfeebled
body, and he loves to talk about
the campaigning that he did be-
fore most of the people of Wich-
tia were born. His only solaces now are
his reflections on ii glorious past and his
corncob pipe which is kept well filled for
the old gentleman at the expense of he
hospital. He uses this same pipe some
times, with great dexterity, as an imagln-
arp revolver, when he is recounting his
hand-to-hand encounter with the East
Indian.
But, to return to the main subject. the
Cls will al hi,
new apartments completed before
the winter sets in. They have
now about sixty beds and all of them are
as clean as the traditional new pin and SO
arranged with reference to the air open
ings as to give the sick plenty of ventila-
ton and the pleasant night breezes By
the recent purchase an additional frontage
of 251 feet has been acquired. This land,
most of which is now producing vegetables |
for the hospital table, will be beautified, or
at least some Of it will be, with grass and 1
flowers so that the sick can take exercise |
on nice soft grass and smell the perfume /
Of the flowers. The sisters in charge |
plumber six or seven and nearly every |
patient can be spoken to in his OVID tongue.
They speak German, French, Italian and |
English. A few years ago when the SIS
ers first came they could speak but very
little English and this was a comparative
lraw back, but now there are two Ameri-
can sisters in the convent and the others
have made themselves more thoroughly
acquainted with our language.
Il am sick'' is now the only pass
word to the hospital. These three
words will always unlock the door of the
and it does not make any
l. is neither sectarian or clanish and its
is solely dominated by that
me word charity To be sure the
sisters are Catholic and have their chapel
Town in the basement where they attend
heir devotions morning and evening aud
INTO which they steal occasionally to offer
up prayer asking the mercy of heaven
or some poor soul that is ready to take its
fight across the dark river While the
sisters are Catholic the medical staff is
without an exception Protestant and in
his way bot, religions blend nicely in
he cause of charity. The sisters have
he utmost confidence in the medical
staff and the medical staff have conf
lence in the ability of the sisters as
nurses for the fact is every one of the lat
er are not only trained in the nursing of
lick, but they have been educated in
A circular is being prepared to
De sent to all the clergy in this and adj
dining states and then cooperation will
he asked and doubtless will bs freely
granted.