Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1916 — NINE DONORS EQUIP ROOMS [ARTICLE]

NINE DONORS EQUIP ROOMS

In the County Hospital Now Nearing Completion. . EACH ROOM COSTS $125 New Institution Is Expected to Be Open for Receiving of Patients Not Rater Than January 15. Nine persons and organizations have made donations to the Jasper county hospital board to equip the nine single rooms in the new hospital. The cost of furnishing each room will be about $125. The equipment will be purchased by the board and will be uniform. Donations for these rooms have been made by the Rensselaer K. of P. lodge, St. Augustine’s Catholic church, the Masonic and Eastern Star lodges, Mrs. Mattie Wasson, H. R. Kurrie, A. Leopold, Mr. and Mrs. James H. Chapman, Mrs. Alda Parkison and Mrs. Leo Wolfe of Hammond, a daughter of A. Leopold. There are also two wards, each to contain three beds, and it is hoped by the board that these will he furnished complete by some of the organizations of the city. It is now expected to have the hospital open for the reception of patients not later than January 15. The building is practically completed and the painters will finish their work within the next week. Installing the furnishings is the only thing then remaining to be done. There are a good many facts concerning the new hospital which will be of. interest to perhaps every resident of the county. The cost of the institution when completed will be in the neighborhood of $20,000. For its maintenance a tax of 1 c»nt on the SIOO has been provided, and this will raise about $3,500 per year. It is estimated that the cost of operating the institution sill be SSOO a month, or about $6,000 a year. The charge to patients for use of the nine single rooms will-vary from $2.50 or $3 a day for some rooms to $5 a day for the more desirable rooms. This charge, of course, includes board and nurse, unless a special nurse is desired. The charge for ward beds lias not been fixed yet, but will be much less than the prices noted above. In charge of the hospital will be the head nurse or superintendent, Miss Bertha Brunneman of Chicago, whose salary will be SIOO per month. There will also be an assistant superintendent and probably two student nurses in addition to a night nurse if such is deemed necessary. There will also be a housekeeper amh at the start she will have one maid to assist her. This will make a total of A five salaried people, not including the student nurses, who will probably receive nothing other than board and lodging for some time. The salaried people will also receive their board and lodging at the hospital. At this time it is not known what the salary will be of the other employes than the superintendent. Neither is it known just what the housekeeping expenses will be. There will be no janitor, it being that the housekeeper*, ants maid will take care of the building. The hospital will be heated with steam, which will be furnished from the heating station at the county jail, and it is said that the capacity of the boilers is such that this additional load will never be noticed.