29 Comments Posted by Ravenna752

Grumpy Ole artist I was thinking the same thing. Electric wiring and megaphone appearing on each side. Probably an in house fire alarm.

Mica it is an ornament as in Christmas. The bottom is a tray that a round ornament sits in and the rest is all see through plastic so you can see what you are buying. Looks wierd in this setting. Seems to modern for the style of the building.

The film showing the machine operating in Sandusky OH just gave me new respect for a sight I take for granted. When you go out on Lake Erie in a pleasure boat you see the rusting metal hulks of several "elevators" the were used to load barges that plied the Great Lakes. There has been a lot of noise in Cleveland about preserving the ones just outside the Cuyahoga River. I do not think they are exactly this type, but seeing the operation and massive machinery in this post gives me more respect for the remains. They should be preserved. Thanks Mr Motts for a very educational post.

As a long time RN and a patient, I also am amazed that all of these records were just abandoned. There is no excuse for leaving this in an empty building. They should have been moved or if not financially possible they should have been destroyed.

Feather, records are very controlled in this day and age. But I am afraid that in times past old records were not as important as they are now. If you think about the past where all of the records were paper, it became a nightmare to provide enough space to store them and a viable method to index them so they could be searched. It is much easier now. The hospital that I worked at for 36 years had storage problems that caused the "old" xrays to be stored in a semi trailer on the back of the property. And that hospital was built in 1977. Now even xrays are available on computer.

This is a wonderful picture. So many different things to look at. Also cranked a few of these beds, but in the early 70's.

Well according to my nursing instructors in the 70's that green was considered (by people that study such things) to have a calming effect on patients. It went along with a yucky pinky beige that was also considered a calming color.

I also love the cemeteries. Thank you for including these pictures. Always interesting to see cemeteries in different parts of the country.

Doorway looks like it would be big enough for a hospital bed to fit through it.

Those are "old" IV bottles which were replaced with bags. You can see the metal bale around the base that the hanging loop is connected to. Not sure why this type of bottle would be in a lab. It was usually in central supply and placed directly on the unit as stock or sent to pharmacy so any additives could be added under sterile conditions. The most common IV solutions of the day were normal saline ( same as the body's normal salt solution) D5W which is 5% dextrose (sugar) and water. There were also electrolyte solutions used such as Lactated Ringers. Not very exciting. They got additives like vitamins.

Or very heavy psych meds that "knock" people out. Most of the hallways in hospitals are wide for ease of moving beds.

Sorry to be so wordy.

In the old days when I first started nursing every medication given to patients was documented on a "med card" a business size card that gave the med. dosage, route of administration, patient name and location, as well as the times that they were to be given. Treatments were also listed on cards. They were stored in a cardex which was basically a flip file about 15 inches wide and 10 inches tall. Each patient had a main card that gave activity orders and diet orders. The small cards were tucked into the front of the main card. Can't explain the holder exactly, but it was hard clear plastic with corner holders for the large cards and a channel that the small cards fit into. The medication cards were in a seperate cardex file. My guess is that in this institution the med cards were placed in this holder in the corresponding slot. So you would find a 7AM med card in the 7AM slot etc. The PRN's (as needed) were in their own slot. It worked well for us in the early 70's, but the computer systems of today are probably much safer. The last 30 years of my nursing career I worked in speciality areas where patient's needs and orders were not routine. (ER, endoscopy, visiting nurse) So I really have no way to assess the safety/effectiveness of today's systems.

Amazing shot. You always seem to know exactly what will be the most amazing picture. Well done Claudia