A NEW HOSPITAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 902, 23 August 1910, Page 3

A NEW HOSPITAL.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES SECTION ALMOST COMPLETED. A COLONY OF .-HVILDINGS. If anyone is sufficiently interested in those public institutions which serve tho sick and suffering—and recent developments evidence that they are ninny—a tram-rido to the top of Constable Street and a walk to the northern end of Coroniandel Street would bring them to a colony of new buildings which hear the. generic title of the Infectious Diseases Hospital. The buildings congregate in a little valley beneath the emerald hills which shuts them off from the other institutions in the immediate vicinity—and the world. Most of tho windows look out on to smooth, gently-sloping hills, over which the breezes chase one another in delightful freedom.. The situation is elevated y. t sheltered, closed iu 'from the rude i i, yet a sunny spot, highly deleterious, ..no' should say, to the harmful evasive iiitle devils of . disease which afflict humanity: The hospital is really four distinct buildings—the hospital itself, the administrative building and nurses' home, the isolated ward, and the mortuary. The great- factors considered ill designing the hospital proper were light, air, and sunshine, which Dr. Hardwicke Smith aptly - named "God's medicines." j?or the free play of air the building has been erected well up from the ground,. and the space beneath has been merely enclosed with woiden trellis work, which permits a free passage of air under the building. All the windows are French windows, wide 'enough to allow the passage- of a bed through to broad sun-lit verandah, which surrounds the long, low, but not unpicturcstiue, building. Over the top of tho verandah are sun windows, which are calculated to Hood the wards with sunshine from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 'There are six wards in all (each 27ft. by 27tt.), to accommodate six patients each, and two small rooms for special ca<;cs, so that it will be seen that there is only aeconimodation after all for 3S or JO patients. Dividing the hospital , into two equal parts are the consulting rooms, a small Kitchen, and other' necessary apartments needed in close proximity to the patients. The wards are supplied with well-fires, and are. substantially floored in jarrah, and lined witli'/jjlaster, finished in Keen's cement. There are no llutings or decorative \vork anywhere where germs could lodge, and even the junction of floor and wall is rounded outwards, so. that every particle of dust and dirt xan be scoured out easily.. The hospital is 200 ft. long, 27ft., in depth and lias a 10ft. verandah round three sides. The most,impressive building is tho administrative block and nurses' home, some twenty or thirty yards away from the hospital oh the opposite hillside. This is a solid two-storied brick structure,' with a rough caste finish, which from its front commands a view of the entrance to tho grounds: It las ■ a frontage of 12ft. and a depth of 48ft. In this building arc apartments for the matron and dispenser, n sunny dining and . sitting-room (14ft. by. 18ft.) for the nurses; a large .veil-appointed kitchen and scullery and ten bedrooms upstairs for tile nurses. On' entering the building after being on duty in the hospital,, a nurse has to use the sido door nearest the hospital.. This admits to a room where she undresses; from, there she enters the bathroom (it is imperative that each nurse shall bathe after coining oft", duty) and in the room still further on she finds her . clean 'clothes laid out • ready for her. ' Each nurse is being provided with a looker (of which she carries the key),' and there are sitting-rooms for the nurses and servants 'and .linen /presses in plenty. Accommodation is also provided for four males, who enter 'by a private .entrance. Ample Invatory accommodation is to ho found in all the buildings. The partitions in the administrative'building-are Brook and Co.'s steel ladder tape walls — a new idea, -by which a slight framework of steel is filled-in with liquid, breeze concrete to a thickness of three, 'inches.. .The filling process is managed by boxing in - the steel work until : the concrete sets. The-walls are said ; t'o ho impervious to .sound, and .will stand theblows of a sledge-hammer. - The isolation, ward is a building containing tlireo rooms, each fitted with a welt-fire,'' and ample conveniences: This is for eases that may need special treatment. The mortuary is a small but substantial building near the entrance - to tho grounds. All. the buildings are roofed with, red Marseilles tiles, ;-which are thrown out in bold lelief' against the vivid green of tho surrounding hills. The Infectious Diseases Hospital is being . erected .by Messrs., Hunt' and M'Donald from the plans of Messrs. Crichton' and Mackay. ■ Mi;. Campbell Colquhoun is the clerk of works. It is this building that will probably be used as a children's' ward until the new Children's Hospital is. erected. The contract time for. the new. building expires on September 15.