Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-03-11

possible even to supply food and wat |
er without taking the sick man in
from the porch.
Ventilation of the inside rooms has |
not been neglected. Opening from the |
closet which each room is supplied |
with, is an air duct which passes di- |
rectly to the roof.
Electric Dumb Waiter to Carry Food !
In the center of the basement at the !
west is the main kitchen, connected
by an underground passageway with
the store rooms under the large kitch- .
en- in the main building. All supplies
will be brought in through this tun
mel. An electric dumb waiter will
carry the food from the main kitchen
floors above. Patients on each floor
will be served from their own kitchen.
Among the many other compartments
in the basement are rooms for all
kinds of baths, including electric,
steam and water. Here also are rooms
for nose and throat treatments, and
roomsfor photographic and 1uoroscop-
ic work. These last are to play an
interesting part in the work of the
hospital. There are filing and devel-
oping rooms open from them and also
a transformer room which will be
lined with lead throughout to give
perfect insulation.
Patients quarters occupy the out
side of the three main floors, except
at the south end of the first floor Here
is the main entrance and there are re-
ceptiOn rooms, Offices for the medical
staff medical library, pharmacy, etc.
A wide hallway runs the length of the
! main part of the wings on all four
floors. Each floor is well supplied with
toilet and bathrooms, closets, linen
rooms, etc. Quarters for help are
placed in the northwest corner.
Operating Rooms to Be Most Modern.
The Laboratory and operating rooms
I are on the second and third floors, re-
/ spectively. Each is to be equipped
/ with the latest devices known to
| science. In the laboratory there will
| be equipment for three men to work
at the same time. The operating room
will be prepared for all kinds of min
or and emergency major operations.
Electricity will play an important
part in the operation of the hospital.
| Not only will it be used in the X-ray
department, but 1t will be used eXclu-
sively in communicating from one
part Of the structure to another. For
signals, lights will be used instead
OF bells or annunciators, thus making
| the system noiseless. Patients will be
enabled to signal from either their
main rooms or their porches These
signals will flash up in an orderly's
room on the floor that the patient oc-
| cupies. In addition, there will be a
telephone switchboard, with an opera
tor always present and lines will
| ran1ify to nurses and orderlies' quar-
tiers, offices, laboratories, etc, within
the building and to residences of the
physicians, the utility buildings and
the main offices elsewhere about the
grounds. An adequate telephone sys-
TEN has been one of the crying needs
of the institution.
Electricity will also operate the
passenger elevator, which will be on
the west side, not far from the main
entrance at the south. This is an i'm
proved type of device. 1t is automatic
IN operation and is equipped with
safety attachments which seem to
make it fool-and-accident proof. It il
large enough to admit strstcher or a
bed.
Every Precaution for Sanitation.
| Sanitation, as well as durability and
safety from fire, is insured by the
character Of the interior finish. Walls
OIL patients rooms are to be plastereo
smoothly and tinted. Floors are all OF
concrete, with rounded corners, some
OF them metal. Floors with be covered
with battieship linoleum, which i,
rather expensive, but which is durable
and fireproof. There are sterilizine
rooms on every floor. The beds will he
finished with white enamel and the
mattresses will be especially made for
wear and comfort. In each patients
room Will be dresser and lavatory.
Every precaution to give silence
within the building is being observed
The silent signal system, concrete
floors with yielding covering and
providing gypsum block partitions
providing perfect insulation agains,
sound. are some of the features plan-
ned with view of disturbing patients
10 the least possible degree.
The hospital is to be supplied with
steam for heating. cooking and ster;.
ilzing, and hot water as well, from the
main heating plant All pines and
wires are brought into the buildne
through a tunnel large enough 10 adj
NIT the passage Of man. This tunnel
connects with another one conveying
steam, water and electrical wiring r.
the main and utility buildings and f.
the patients tents.
| When the hospital is in operation