OLD PEOPLE'S HOME

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 152, 6 October 1910, Page 2

OLD PEOPLE'S HOME

THE XEW SITE. The Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, having of necessity embarked on a rebuilding scheme, has been confronted with the difficult problem of placing on the present .site, whilst still keeping the hospital open, a building which is planned to cover a very considerable area. The ground at the disposal ol' the Board, if the present site was to be utilised, was altogether too small. It was proposed to erect the new building in sections, possibly in three separate contracts, fit different times. The existing and proposed legislation makes hospital board members cautious. Homes for incurable and maternity homes will be made part of the hospital system of the near future, and all thestinstitutions will require a considerable area. The present hospital buildings, whilst inconvenient of administration and unsuited by reason of advancing years and other defects for use as a general hospital for very much longer, is far too good to be ruthlessly pulled down or converted into a bonfire. So a suggestion was made that a portion of it. should be moved across the gully and re-erected as an isolation ward, the present isolation block having for some time past been utterly inadequate. Such a 'Scheme would involve a 'good deal of expense. On the land at present devoted to hospital purposes in New Plymouth stands the Old People's Home, occupying a site that is probably unequaJled for such an institution, but for its proximity to the hospital and to the town—this latter because of the facilities afforded some of the inmates for breaches of the regulations. A site with more land attached, thus providing % greater variety of health-giving outdoor exercise for the old men, has long been considered necessary. The facts as just outlined are briefly the reasons upon which the Board has decided to purchase a site for the Old People's Home, thus freeing a good site for the new hospital, and leaving the present block of buildings for use as an incurable or isolation ward. The scheme has much to recommend it In the first place, the Board is assured that the saving effected by having the new hospital buildings erected in one contract on a clear site will easily reimburse them for the expense of removing the home to the new site and for the purchase of the land. Under this scheme, too, the new hospital can be erected ■without causing inconvenience and discomfort to the nurses and patients in the institution, which would, of course, eventuate in the event of the building going up round about the present hospital. The new site for the hospital is an excellent one in every way, and the property purchased at Westown for the Old People's Home equally so. It is practically level, and easily cultivable, and the Board has in view the utilisation of the land for providing milk, butter, poultry and eggs for the institutions under its control. The members of the Board were unanimous in their decision to secure a more suitable site for the Old People's Home, and they were quite agreed that the site selected was the best that had beta offered them, and very cheap at the price.