The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-07-26

| was mourning between us ana the
/ Japs to the northward' No native
labor was employed. Most of the
work of clearing the reservation,
putting up hospital buildings, in
stalling lighting, sewage and garbage
facilities and the 1901 other tasks
| involved in building a city from
dense jungle was done by small
group of construction battalion
workers-"Seabees" - and hospital
corpsmen, supervised by medical Of
! ficers.
Corpsmen alone unloaded 10000
tons of cargo brought by the orig
inal medical unit, the nucleus of
which comprised medical specialist
units of the naval reserve from
Dayton, O., and the st. Louis Uni
versity. Corpsmen worked as winch
men, hold workers and stevedoreS.
They ran lighters and drove trucks.
Medical officers, most of whom had
voluntarily abandoned lucrative pri-
vate practices to serve their country,
served as officers of the deck, hold
and dock officers and, in general,
supervised all work performed.
1873 Separate Buildings
The entire task of unloading,
| hauling and constructing was COM
pleted without single accident, al
though none of the personnel in
volved had had any previous expe-
rience in this type of work.
Every building in this miniature
city, from wards to living quarters,
is of the "Quonset" type hut, the
Iceland" type hut, or shed con-
structed of wood and metal. These
are used as single units, or in groups
of two or three, placed end to end
as required. Thus the 1913 units in
volved are combined to form 1873
separate buildings" all of which,
incidentally, have hurricane anchor
age.
There are a total of 80 wards at
U. S. Naval Base Hospital No. g.
Fourteen of these are for surgical
cases, IL for medical patients and
four for isolation wards. There is
no radical difference between those
allotted to officers and those devot-
ed to the care of enlisted personnel
There are two complete modern
surgical units, each consisting of
two operating room, a Sterilizer
room and wash room. These are
widely separated for dispersal pur-
poses and connected by covered
boardwalks with the various other
surgical activities.
Ventilation No Problem
Ventilation, all-important in this
tropical climate, presents no prob
lem. The ends of the huts are
screened and most have screened
dormer windows. Hut ends are in
the direction of the prevailing wind
and panels have been removed from
side walls and the openings screen
ed.
With the hospital built on rolling
terrain, and well above sea level it
Is possible, from almost any corner
Of the reservation, to obtain mag
nificent view of large portion of
the island, covered with dense jun
gle. Several mountain ranges furn-
lsh a backdrop of natural tropical
beauty while numerous large plan
tations. owned and operated by for
eign nationals, are scattered along
the shoreline ahead.
Like any city, the hospital has to
have a water supply. This has its
source approximately four miles
from the reservation. The purifica-
ton system is of the rapid sand fill
tration and chlorination type. Boos-
ter pumps force the water through
4-inc hmain to storage tanks on
the reservation. The water is crys-
tai clear and potable. Bacteriolog-
ical examinations of specimens COL
lected from the mains are made
each month and more frequently
when deemed advisable. Signific-
antly, there have been no outbreaks
of disease attributable to water
borne contamination.
No precaution is ignored where it
involves safeguarding the health of
patients. Combustible refuse and
flattened tin cans, for example, are
hauled to dump provided for that
purpose. After spraying with oil and
burning, the residue is covered with
dirt. Sewage is collected by trucks
and emptied daily into lagoon
which communicates with the open
sea. Garbage is hauled to garbage
barge, constructed specifically for
that purpose, and dumped at sea
daily.
Has Own Gardens
Toilet and bathing facilities for
patients are in the ratio of l to Is,
which is considered adequate. These
facilities consist of waterless toll
cts. wash basins and showers with
hot and cold water. According to
the number of beds in each ward,
there are from one to three of these
items.
The cafeteria system of serving
is used in the hospitals four mess
halls for ambulatory patients. The
food Is plain but wholesome, pal
atable, and of excellent quality and
quantity. The amount of food pre-
pared for each meal is based on a
caloric value of $500 calories per
man per day. Meals for bed pa
tients are served by corpsmen.
Fresh meat. fresh butter and fresh
vegetables are served daily. The
hospital has its own gardens on four
plantations on the island, the rails
sH-1, &c - l.