MODERN HOSPITAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 August 1939, Page 5

MODERN HOSPITAL

EQUIPMENT AT MASTERTON ADDITIONAL LAND SECURED. NEW DISPENSARY UNDER WAY. Several important developments are taking place at Ihe \l;islerlmi 1 lospital which can claim to be one ol Ihe best equipped institutions ol' its kind in New Zealand. These include the avquisil inn ol' sewn acres ol' land, improvements lo the grounds generally. and lhe filling up of a new dispensary. Adcii’ional land has been taken over for the growing of vegetables and for the provision of tennis courts for the nurses. The area is one of seven acres adjoining the present vegetable garden and forms portion of an education reserve leased by the Associated Auctioneers. who willingly relinquished any claim to the land without thought uf compensation and facilitated in every way the handing over of the area to the hospital authorities. This land is now vested in the board for hospital purposes. Since it has come into lhe board's keeping, the area has been transformed. Formerly a swamp, growing scrub and many willow trees, it has been cleared with the assistance of relief workers, of whom as many as seventeen were employed on occasions at one time. The willows have been removed, a considerable portion of the area dug in readiness for planting in potatoes and an access road cut down the bank from the terrace above. This work is still in progress. VEGETABLE SUPPLIES.

It may not be generally known that the Masterton Hospital gardening staff supplies the institution with practically all its own vegetables and at times is able to supply Pahiatua and Greytown hospitals as well. When the additional area recently acquired is in full cultivation, it is hoped to meet the needs hi vegetables of all three hospitals in the Wairarapa Board's district. Last year, from about two acres of land. 14 tons of vegetables were produced. Onions are at present being planted out, 14.000 plants, about sufficient. if the crop is a good average one lo provide for the year’s supply. As to the new tennis courts, it is hoped to have two asphalt courts ready for the coming season while provision will be made for the laying down of two furthei- courts when these are considered necessary. GROUND IMPROVEMENTS. Other ground improvements in progress or recently completed include the cleaning up of the area around the T.B. annexe, where rough vegetation has been replaced by lawns and fences realigned in conformity with the improved layout. A ramp has been built to give access to the maternity ward and paths rearranged. Between lhe main hospital entrance and the new nurses’ home, the drive has been widened considerably, so that an island can be laid down to serve as a gt’ide for cars turning. The present exit roadway is to be closed and on the bank opposite the new nurses' home it is proposed al some later period, to erect baths for the nurses. Parking of cars, as at present, will be prohibited in the hospital grounds during visiting hours. The turf removed from the area where the drive has been widened has been relaid in front of lhe nurses’ home, and the remaining area will be sown with grass seed. Cutting the lawns in the hospital grounds keeps one man fully employed with a motor mower forty hours each week, and in the flush of growth in the spring he has to be given assistance on occasions. The hospital grounds now embrace an area of about 35 acres.

ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT. One of the most impressive features of the Masterion Hospital organisation is the use of electricity for every possible purpose—notably for heating. Hidden away out of sight in a small basement behind the main building are three small electric pumps, and large insulated water boilers, from which the whole of the main hospital wards, offices and staff quarters are heated. Everything is clean and orderly in this basement, and the pleasant purr of the running pumps is the only sound noticeable. Similarly, in a corner of the new nurses’ home is another small, closely-packed room, containing a pump and water boilers, which heat that building with the same quiet efficiency. These systems are controlled automatically by thermostat. which regulates the temperature according to requirements. Only two mon are employed, one an engineer, to attend to this side of hospital management. whereas under a steam heating system at least five and probably seven would be required, and moreover, the two men now engaged are able to cease work at midday on Saturday’ and resume on Monday morning, and are able also to enjoy all holidays—a rather striking contrast to the old scheme, which involved some one on duty for the 24 hours of the day'. Everywhere electricity, is the dominant note in the Masterton Hospital—it is used also for cooking, lighting, domestic hot water, drying, sterilising and other purposes. In the modern, recently completed operation theatre, electric sterilisers of several types are installed, with gas as an emergency in ease of power failure. There is an electric incubator for the culture of bacteria and an electric refrigerator is to be installed for the storage of serum. Sterilisation is now possible bv exposure fo a particular type of electrical light. Another important improvement in prospect is the fitting up of an up-to-date dispensary in the old theatre. Io take the place of the present badly-cramped dispensary’ which has long outlived its usefulness.