The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-01-29
SPACE NEED
AT HOSPITAL
IS PROBLEM
Every Bed in Institution Occu-
pied Friday Night-Emerg-
ency Would Cause Surgeons
Difficulty.
HAS LONG WAITING LIST

Lack Of rooms for patients has be-
come a perplexing problem at Reid
Memorial hospital, Friday night every
bed in the institution was occupied.
Authorities would have been at loss to
know where to place an emergency
case.
In an emergency or catastrophe.
with the hospital daily taxed to cap
acity. surgeons would experience diff
ficulty in treating the victims Of the
disaster at the hospital.
AS it is, doctors have waiting lists
of patients who are seeking entrance
for treatment. In emergency cases, re-
quiring immediate attention, two beds
have been placed in a room originally
| intended for only one. The wards are
always filled, and often patients who
wanted rooms have been glad to find
/ bed in a ward.
chiIdren's Ward Needed
Foremost among the needs Of the
| institution is children's ward
| place where the crying and fretting
of newly arrived babies or ill children
will not disturb medical or surgical
patients. At present, the nursery has
nine newly born babies. 1t is said
that child of six months or year,
| i'll with a disease, cannot be placed
! in the nursery, for fear of spreading
it's disease to other occupants.
! The hospital is the home Of between
so and 65 persons, who are in the
medical or surgical wards. While the
capacity of the four wards was only in
tended to be eight persons each, nine
are now in each ward.
Experts advise wards for only four
| RI
attention.
No Private Rooms Available
! The demand for private rooms re-
Gently has exceeded the supply AL
though unsatisfactory TO those wish
ing separate room, it has been found
necessary to place two beds in a
room on many occasions. Persons
wishing privacy could not be accom-
modated, compelling them to go to In
dianapolis, Dayton and Chicago, or to
cities where proper facilities are to
be had
What would the hospital do should
a contagious disease develop and the
patient have to be isolated?
: If the patient cannot be moved, and
most of them cannot, it means the iso-
lation of an entire ward, and the mar
rowing of space for patients cores
pondingy. This proves the need OF
an isolation ward. say those in charge.
Daily Average is 43
Throughout the year of 1920 there
was an average of 43 patients for
every day of the year. On many days
the hospital cared as best it could
for over so patients. "Of course" said
ali official, I'VE can always set cots in
the hall and the sun-parlor but in
the winter the sunparlor is not heat
ed as it should be, and the result is
inefficient service"
With all the wards filed; private
! rooms occupied, and every available
bit of space pressed into service, there
is still waiting list of patients.
Maternity patients make their res
ervations weeks in advance, but even
then it is difficult to assure patients
continuous use of the rooms until full
! recovery
Quarters for the nurses in training
also are wholly inadequate. 1t has
! been necessary to place three nurses
in single room.
Reid hospital also needs more help.
! Many times the call for graduate
nurses, who are in their ohmes in the
| city, has been made Wont you Just
help us out today" has been the plea
of the overworked force.
More Rooms Needed.
1t is estimated that the smallest ad-
dition to the hospital should be one
of 100 rooms. There is ample ground
for this extension. as the hospital
grounds include 55 acres. The addi-
ton could be made in the rear. With
this addition, wards accommodating
four persons each could be had; an
isolation ward provided; children S
ward maintained; private rooms would
be at the disposal of the public, and
the nurses would have the living con-
dition' they need.
To make this addition an expendi-
ture of 100000 would be required, it
is believed. The hospital now has an
endowment of $4,000. and the city
pays $4,000 a year toward its main
tainance. 1t costs the hospital $3.50
daily for each person taken care of
during last year. With ward accom-
modations at 81 per day and private
rooms at 81, the hospital just came
out about even, it is said. With an
extension, medical patients could be
cared for who are now turned away
~.1.