314 Comments Posted by claudia

The hooks probably held a cloth bag for dirty linen. Looks like the shelves gave the staff a place to have extra items the patients might have needed.

Maybe a dental chair

Probably used to create the medal "stamper plate" that each patient had. It was used to stamp the patient's name and account number on a charge slip for items used in patient care. This is a very old machine. We called them addressograph plates when I first started working in the hospital 1971.

In the "old" days cough syrup would be purchased by the hospital in large quantities. The pharmacy then filled and labeled bottles like these for the specific patient for whom it was ordered.

I love how you can see the second floor on the right hand side. You can see the different color schemes that were painted over the years.
Great job Motts. I'll join the crowd in hoping you are cautious in these buildings. And please if you go alone, make sure a friend knows where you were headed and when you would be out so they can send the search party.

Looks to me to be a page from a knitting publication. I have several old knitting patterns that were given to me and this resembles pages from them. Usually they show the completed articles on models all on one page and direct you to the page in the booklet with the knitting instructions.. This may have been a specific yarn makers item. Perhaps they used yarn in the facility as arts and crafts. This could have been wrapped in the skein of that yarn.

The comment that talked about the metal plates on the table going into the autoclave reminded me of an old ER story. Our local coroner was a very laid back guy and he came in to check a fatality from a car accident. For a certain period after death you can draw blood out of the heart. He told me to go for it. Showed me the spot on the chest to insert the needle and then proceded to talk with the cops., He was watching me as I prepared the equipment and when i SWABBED the skin with alcohol he gave me such a look!! He said quietly don't need to do that to a dead body.......

The last one of these that I ever saw was in the hospital I worked in starting in 1971. The county built us a new hospital in 1977. When we moved the "flushers" stayed behind.
I also seem to remember that the flusher was only used and the bedpan considered sanitized. Between patients the old metal bedpans were sent to central sterile to be actually sterilized. Now everything is plastic and thrown away. Not at all sure this is progress.

Several posts ago there was a discussion of "time of death". For many years it was exactly as the next poster detailed. If a patient was dead the only individual allowed by the state to determine this was a Dr. This led to exactly the situation the family member detailed. Many misunderstandings happened . About 20 years ago the state of OH passed a law that anyone with any medical training could declare someone dead. The ER docs, where I worked, loved this one because nursing homes and hospice patients no longer had to come to the ER to be pronounced. For years the doctors had to leave their patients and go out and get in the back of an ambulance and declare that the patient was in fact dead. Just one of the little wrinkles in a system that is Dr centered.

Thanks for the cemetery pictures. Looking around cemeteries is one of my hobbies. My dear husband found a tiny cemetery way out in the country and it had military veterans from every war this country has fought. Revolutionary, 1812, Civil. etc. Really gives you a strong sense of history to see graves from veterans of these wars.

As a nurse I took it to refer to the medications that have to be counted at the beginning and end of every shift. Then as I read your comments, I began to see all kinds of things it could apply to. Including documentation. Living up to the standards that we were taught in nursing school. At the end of the day nurse's work is only as good as the nurse doing the job. Nobody stands over us all shift long. It probably applies to that most of all.

One of my nursing instructors worked in a military VD (STD) ward during WW2. She gave some of the first penicillin that was used on these cases. In those days syringes were glass and were reprocessed for reuse. She told the story that syringes were in short supply so they used one 10ml syringe and 10 different needles. Each patient got one ml and then you changed the needle and moved on. The problem with cures like the hot boxes is if the patient had syphilis, they would appear to be "cured". Only syphilis remains in the body in a somewhat dorment stage. Several years down the line the patient develops a variety of neurological symptoms which are known as Tertiary Syphilis which is fatal. Penicillin has changed everything. When I first started working as a nurse 1971. All patients admitted to the hospital were screened for syphilis with a blood test, This was discontinued in the 80's.

In OH they were discharged to the streets. We live in the county seat and many of them end up here because the social services that they need are in our town. They live in boarding hotels or on the street. They intimidate some of the citizens, because they walk about talking to themselves. Some make very large hand gestures which some interpret as agressive. These places were bad, but I have to believe homeless is worse. Anybody wonder what the new "health care" will do for these folks?

Rooms in hospitals use a double door system for patients that are contagious. The outer door opens into a small area that is just big enough to keep the needed supplies. The supplies are like the ones you see on surgeons. The front is closed , it has ties in the back.
There are also gloves, masks, even caps to cover your hair. All equipment taken into this area stays there until the patient leaves and then is destroyed. There are also laundry bags to put the clothing in when you come out. And a sink for washing. This almost could be an early attempt to do this. It is against protocol to have both doors open at once. These special rooms, with increased air exchanges, are specially built.

To bad they never finished the condos. What a great building it would be to live in. A circular living room would be fun to decorate. And the outside of the building would be wonderful to see every day when you returned home.