Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 251, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1915 — DELIGHTFUL TRIP AND SOME INFORMATION [ARTICLE]

DELIGHTFUL TRIP AND SOME INFORMATION

Hospital Board and Republican Editor Visited Valparaiso and Gary Institutions. Frank E. Lawis, J. D. Allman, L. H. Hamilton and E. P. Honan, accompanied by the editor of The Republican, made an auto trip to Valparaiso and Gary Thursday that proved a most delightful one and resulted in gathering some excellent information to be used in the plans for the new county hospital. All but the editor are members of the hospital board and the trip was made especially to see the Christian hospital at Valparaiso and one or more of the Gary hospitals. At Valparaiso Attorneys Dan Kelley and Edward T. Heineman accompanied the Rensselaer visitors to the hospital, where the matron very kindly escorted them about the building. This is an old building, “having been erected by Dr. Loring some twenty-five years ago and by him conducted for some years as a sanitarium. Less than a year ago it was changed into a hospital and is under the management of a board from the Christian church. It is in no respect modem but the management has done all that could be done under the circumstances. The rooms and wards are tidy and everything is clean. There are 25 beds in the hospital and there are from 4 to 12 patients in there at a time. . The hospital is not self-supporting but is becoming more so all the time. Valparaiso is so near Chicago and there are so many trains running there that it operates against the hospital. Then, since it is not modem, many prefer going where everything is the latest. Another thing is the fact that it is a denominational hospital. The board secured a number of valuable ideas, "however, by the visit, in matters of arrangement, size of rooms, etc. The drive was then made -over the Lincoln highway to Gary, where Lawson Meyer, superintendent of the Chicago Telephone Co’s, plant at Gary, acted as escort, taking the visitors to the hospital of the United States Steel Corporation. This is a modle building that cost the steel company $250,000 and is maintained for the employes of the Gary plant. Most of the cases are injury cases, although there are many cases of operation performed there of the employes who are taken sick while on duty. The building is five stories and basement high and was erected six years ago. The buildings are of dark vitrified brick and brown stone and the building is fire proof. The roof is red tile. Accommodations are provided for 126 patients with a total of 156 beds. The walls of the corridors are of Italian marble and 85 per cent of the .floors are of tile and marble. The lighting and ventilation of the plant have received special attention. The hospital is near the entrance to the steel plant on 14 acres of ground set aside by the company for the purpose. The entrance, receiving room, offices, operating room, wards, private rooms, convalescent ward and everything are hospital perfection and while it was on a scale so much greater than is to be undertaken here, it furnished many , ideas that can be involved in the erection of a small hospital. All work in the hospital is male, the doctors, nurses, cooks and everything except the scrub women. The doctor in charge was very generous and took the visitors all over the building and explained every department and answered all questions and further volunteered to assist the local board in any way possible if asked to do so. It was not necessary to visit the other hopitals as they were also very large and doubtless would furnish no important new ideas, so the invitation of Lawson Meyer was accepted to visit the central plant of the telephone company, which is managed by him. It proved one of the pleasures of the visit, for the plant is certainly a model of perfectioh. It was as clean as a hospital from basement to roof and the mechanical devices were arranged for convenience, good service and comfort of employes. The wiring, the dynamos, the batteries, the switchboard, the office, and every department showed that a master hand had directed the arrangement and all were proud that a Rensselaer boy was at the head of the system. We only wish that we had the descriptive power to picture the plant as it exists and to let our readers know how big and complete it is. When Lawson went to ’Gary there were about 400 telephones. Now there are 3,000. The plant cost about $500,000 to install. The large room and the convenience for the operators was one of the best features. A branch of the public library is maintained there and 130 books wete in it at this time. The books am exchanged at the public library as frequently as there is a demand. A fine new postoffice building is being erected in Gary and near it is the Y. M. C. A., which cost $300,000 and I the Carnegie library which cost $65,-

000. We have been in Gary before but never saw it to such advantage as on this visit. It is certainly a great city and is the foundation for a metropolis of a hundred thousand. W. F. Hodges* the attorney who lived in Rensselaer for same time, has made a big success there and recently erected on Broadway, a fine building for the Wool worth company, which he leased to them for $4,800 per year for ten years. Mr. Hodges has made an abundance of money in Gary and his old friends here are glad of his success. Frank Meyer has a mighty nice drug store on Broadway, near Ninth avenue and is doing a good business. Gary has been picking -dp again lately after the depression the past two years and practically all buildings are again occupied.