Forty-fourth annual report of the Trustees of the Northampton Insane Hospital, for the year ending September 30, 1899.

  • Northampton Insane Hospital
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Forty-fourth annual report of the Trustees of the Northampton Insane Hospital, for the year ending September 30, 1899. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of supplies shipped in bulk, and will save considerable expense and annoyance in the delivery of coal especially. It is the intention of the trustees to build, during the coming year, a coal shed near this side track, so that there and at the hospital nearly a year’s supply of coal may be stored. Within the year a passenger elevator has been put in the administration building, the cost of which was paid from the funds of the hospital. It is of the plunger type, which is the safest and most practical form for our use. The elevator car runs from the basement to the upper floor. It is large enough to accommodate a bedstead or a stretcher for the trans¬ fer of patients between the different wards of the hospital. It proves to be a very useful addition to the hospital equipment. An appropriation of $12,000 was made in 1899 by the Legis¬ lature for the purpose of constructing a building for cold storage. Prices of building materials of all kinds have ad¬ vanced to such an extent that the trustees have considered it advisable to delay the construction of this building till next season. From the superintendent’s report it appears that the number of patients in the hospital is steadily increasing, and that a large number have to be accommodated in the corridors at night. If this hospital is to continue caring for the insane of the four western counties of the Commonwealth, more room should be provided. The trustees propose to build an addition this year, to be used as a dormitory for the women. This will be large enough to accommodate all the cases for whom beds have to be made in the corridors. It is planned to build this largely with our own help, and we hope to begin the work soon, so that it may be carried on during the winter. So long ago as 1882 the annual report of this hospital called attention to the desirability and need of an annex for the care of the recent or curable cases, making mention of the over¬ crowding of the hospital. At that time the daily average number of patients was 4(19. To-day it is 563, and though since then the accommodations have been increased, they are still inadequate to the needs of the western part of the State. It is the aim of the institution to become a hospital in fact as well as in name. With the present accommodations we can
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