The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-10-10
PLAN COMMUNITY
HOSPITAL At KEENE
New $225,0O0 Building to
Serve City and Cheshire
County
COMMITTEE STARTS
DRIVE FOR FUNDS

New Unit to BE Three Story Fire Proc
Structure-WH Accommodate 60 Pa
tients-One Floor Given Over to Ma
ternity Work.
KEENE, y. H., oct. I6.-Kelnt
and Cheshire county are to have {
now community hospital, which vii
cost $225,0O0. The present plant
which wa originally a private man
sion, the gift of the Hon. John Henry
Elliot in 1892, has long since outiived
its usefulness, and the new board OF
trustees, elected on a program to en-
large and modernize it, have under
taken to raise the fund through public
appeal during the week Of October 10.
An executive committee, headed by
Robert T. kingsbury, and composed OF
10 members, has the campaign in hand
and has apportiOned the work among
IL subcommittee so as to cover not only
kecne but the entire county, with 400
active workers. There will be L men ;
teams and y women 5 teams in the city
itself, each composed of captain, lieu
tenant and II workers. The county
viii nave a similar organization
throughout the y outlying towns which
the community hospital will serve.
The new building will be a fully
equipped modern hospital, conforming
to the standards of the American Med
icaI association, which officially rates
hospitals through the country. 1t will
be constructed and equipped as well as
any hospital of its size anywhere.
To Serve Wide Territory
Particular interest attaches to the
,-.-..+ - I-,.r, Fnr 4h1 vaaCar, +lnt
the hospital serves so wide a territory.
There is no general hospital within Il
radius of 10 miles from keene. Not
only must the $1,000 persons in this ter
ritory look to keene for hospital serv-
ice, but the many visitors from other
places during the summer months, as
well as the very considerable number of
persons from Boston and other places
who maintain their summer homes in
the county. are concerned with having
within easy reach a hospital that viii
meet modern requirements. Cheshire
county therefore realizes that the new
con munity hospital will be IN asset
from a business point of view, besides
being a necessary protection to its own
ueople.
Work of Present Hospital
In It's 20 years OF existence Elliot hos
pital has cared for more than 9.400 pa
NF'HttE- ~ ltAN II AAAN SlfNh fcFSN N"F'
Of hospital care at Il cost of 1886. AS. Re
ceipts from patients during the same
J. crjod totaled $272.7 AT so that expenses
lave exceeded the revenues from pa
TENTS fees by almost $4,000. The
shortage has been made UP from lega-
funds and an annual appropriation of
Sl.WJ lthiS year increased to $4,000
from the city Of Kecne.
Of the total service, as between
kecne and the outside towns of the
county. the county has had the benefit
OF 33I per cent, and every one of the
- towns has Il hospital record of pa
tients served. \ good proportion of
service was given patients from out
SIDE the county who had recourse to
Elliot hospital while sojourning here or
in the neiglboriug towns.
klenp and Cheshire county, with the
rest Of the country have been sufferers
froi" a hospital shortage that has been
cumulative for the last five or six years.
The people here have known that their
present plant was WOefullv inadequate,
but the war and its consequences put
a brak' on construction and active eff
forts to make good the deficiency were
deferred from time to time. Last win
t"". however. q complete change took
place in the hospital management. and
tho coming camnaign is the result. &
Citizens Take a Hand
Early this year. as the result of the
findings of committees of citizens, of
the chamber OF M and of the
trustees and incorpoTatOrs it was de
tcrmInCd to increase the membership OF
the corporation from % to 80 members,
giving the nublic wider representation
outside of keene in the country towns,
as we'll as in the city itself, and to en-,
large also the membership of the board
OF trustees from five to -. This was
done, and the following 10 trustees We're
elected by the incOrpOrators, pledged to
the building of 4 modern hospital plant:
Hon. OrVllle f. Cain, mayor of Keene, :
president: G.. l.. Sturtevant, treasurer; {
C.. l.. kingsbuTy. secretary; a. Burt
Palmer, Fred \. Putnam, Lawrence p
L2veronI, john NJ. Duffy, LaFell Dick
cnson. John Elliot, W. c. Coughlin, VIII
{. G. Abbott, Mrs. G.. NJ. Rossman,
Franklin Ripley, r.. L. Whitney. Rob-
1rt 7. Kingsbury.
These men and women immediately
conferred with physicians. architects
and hospital experts and after thorough
study decided that the demands for serv-
ice could BE- met IN no other way than
by erecting a new building for the pa
tients and remOdeling the present struc-
tUre as an administration building.
New Building Plans
As submitted by the architects, Ken
dali, TAYLOR & Co., Of Boston, and
Haynes & Mason of Kcane. and Fitch
burg, the plans include Il brand new !
structure for the patients. embodying
the most modern ideas IN all respects as
called for by the standards of the Amer
lean Medical association. Not only will
this greatly needed building house twice
as many patients as the present hosDi-
tai; it VIII enable them to receive the
best there is in the way of hospital care.
The new unit will consist of a three
story freproof structure at the rear of
the present building, with which it will
be connected by means of corridors. 1t
will be 1870 feet long and ~ feet wide.
A driveway to the north of the pres
ent bulldin@ viii lead to the ambulance
err rance at the centor of the eastern
sid, of the unit, where the admitting
room will be located. $500
Tie first floor win contain four wards