The Key West Citizen Newspaper, October 18, 1952, Page 4

Page 4 ‘THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Saturday, October 18, 1952 U.S. NAVAL HOSPITAL BEGINS SECOND DECADE OF SERVICE HERE | By MARGARET FORESMAN On October 19 the United States Naval Hospital, Key West, will pass the milestone marking a decade of service to the Naval components of Key West Naval Base to the entire Navy and to the Key West com- munity. Formally commissioned October 19, 1942, the new Hospital filled a erying need for adequate full-scale’ hospital facilities Yor Naval person- nel in the area. Since that time, through hurricanes, shipboard dis- asters, accidents both on and off the Station, epidemics and routine illnesses, the Hospital and its com- petent personnel have given top medical care. This Hospital, like se many other similar institutions devoted to the maintenance of life and physical well-being, did . not spring full-blown into existence. The Navy had a long record of activities in and around Key West, with the resultant growing need for adequate housing, for recreational facilities and, in many cases most important, for medical care both for Navy men and for their dependents. From 1822 when the American flag was first unfurled to the tropi- cal breeze of this island settlement up to the present day, one only need look at a map to judge the strategic importance of the lower Keys as a vital part of the defense of the country, And, almost ever since 1822, the Navy has utilized the area in its campaigns and acti- vities. Although for long years after the pirates were driven from fecal waters by Commodore Porter this was little more than 2 coaling station and supply de- pet for munitions and stores, from time to time new facilities * and station improvements were made. The first military hospital in the area was a Marine Hospi- tel, erected in 1844, Tt was to this then-antiquated structure that the first of the injur- 4 1 @itizen Staff Photo quarters for the Seventh Naval District, since combined with Sixth, and the activities carried on here foreshadowed the tasks that were to be brought to such a fever pitch in the War years-- supplying and maintaining the forces afloat and accomplishing minor repairs. Even before the entrance of this country into actual hostilities in World War I, repair facilities were augmented by construction of the Marine Railway, machine shops, and similar needed additions. In 1916 the dispensary building was erected. War Comes Again - Came the hectic days of the war, and with it the feverish construc- tion and mobilization that marks such a cataclysm. Hospital require- ments during the War were met by the Navy’s purchase of an old school building’ on United Street, just east of White Street, which was converted into a Navy Hospital It was disestablished after the war and leased to the city until World War II when the Navy resumed ju- risdiction and converted the pro- perty into a Commissary Store. The letdown that followed the first World War, so far as Naval activity in Key West was concern- ed, was even greater than that which had followed the previous | wars. There was no need for hospital facilities beyond those offered by the small dispensary housed in a two-story brick building. Even this building, which could accommodate} eight patients, was closed when the | entire Naval Station was shut down in 1932. A ghost station, it was peopled! only by mosquitoes and by care- takers. It would have taken a far- | seeing eye or a lively imagination to visualize, during the next seven | years that such a place would ever need so extensive and complete a Hospital as the present installation. The year 1939 brought sweep- | ed were sent who were brought to Key West following the destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor. Others were placed in the Barracks Hospital at the Army post here. Convent as Hospital ‘The Spanish-American War did | not get into full swing so far as Congress and the nation were con- | cerned until April of 1898, although | the Maine disaster occurred in Feb- | Tuary. In the interim, the Sister | Superior of the Convent of .Mary | Immaculate offered to the Navy Commandant here the Convent for @ hospital and the services of the nuns as nurses in the event of hos- ing changes te the Key West scene. The Naval Station wa commissioned that y old eight-patient, two-story dis- | pensary came back into use. Need for more adequate space | seen became evident with the re- | newal ef activity, and by May 1, | Hospital was built for 150 beds, and probably ri | planners thought they were being liberal in their estimate of needed space. Soon after the opening, however, it became evident that the estimate was far short of the need, and by crowding, accom- modation could be afforded for 259 beds. Although the Hospital was in use, the next year was a period of deve- lopment and improvement. The ca- pacity had to be increased, so con- struction was begun on additional wards to bring the bed total to 358. The grounds surrounding the new Hospital were like the grounds sur- rounding any other new place in Key West---grassless and compara- tively treeless. By late summer, 1943, the con- struction of new buildings and quar- ters was completed, and the grounds had taken on much of the look they have today. There sat the beautiful structure, nestled in green grass with palm trees and tropical shrubs burgeon- ing here and there. The ocean lap- of grounds. And the sick and injured people came in a constant stream. Need is Demonstrated enlisted men, wives and mothers and children--they came for sur- birth of Navy juniors, for psychia- trie treatment, for X-rays, for eye tests, for dental work in short for all the wide variety of services the hospital was equipped and staffed to perform. Indeed, they came in such num- bers that within ten months it was examinations had been made on de- pendents alone. By the end of 1943. the number of in-patients who had been admitted to the Hospital reached the total of 5,958. increased more doctors, nurses and corpsmen were added to the staff. The World War Ul period saw two changes of command, one taking place when Capt. J. L. Frazer, (MC) USN, relieved Capt. Allen in August 1943, and the other when Capt. Joseph B. Logue, (MC) USN, assumed com- 1948 the dispensary had been re- | medelied with a new one-story addition se that the present dis- | pensary was placed in full com- mission. Even then, however, it was still necessary for major sur- | gery te be perfermed at the Marine Hospital, Commissioning of a small dis- pensery at the Naval Air Station im December 190 relieved to mand in February 1945. At the | end of the War, Capt. Logue had te aid him in the operation of the Hespital 21 dectors, four internes and 28 nurses, with 119 corpsmen and 48 Waves doing duty | dents or staff members. | Waves officers were also attach- ed, At the very beginning, when the ped at the sea wall around the | «| southeastern boundary the | Sailors and Marines, officers and | gery, for routine check-ups, for the | estimated that 10,529 out-patients | During this period, as the need | cutback in Naval personnel in the area was made, activities there might have been expected to follow a fairly routine course. True, fortieth anniversary of the Nurse that same year. ship, HMS Crossbow, occurred. One man was killed, and another who was seriously injured was hospita- lized at the Navy Hospital. An epidemic of measles among Naval dependents in the Key West area in the early summer of 1948 gave the doctors a differ- ent ailment to look for and a dif- ferent kind of shots to think about. But life rolled along on a fairly even keel, generally speak- 21 and 22, 1938. In the course of the hurricane | during which gusts reached 160 iles per hour, 198 refugees were Many of these remained in the Hospital for two or three days due to the uninhabitable condi- tion of their homes. During thi course of the storm there were twe births and one death from natural causes. the treatment they got and a few of them told their friends about it, because when another hurricane, of less intensity, hit on October 5. 260 refugees were sheltered for seven hour period. The demands on the Hospital | |have increased greatly just with- in the present calendar year. In comparison with the year 1949 when 2,289 hospital admissions were re- | corded and 27,272 out-patients visits were handled by the Dependents Service, figures for the year 1952 ‘show admissions from Jan. 1 to Oct. 15, 3,539 and out-patients, Jan- uary 1 to September 30, 47,170. breaks in the routine came with | such things as celebration of the! Corps in 1948 and of the fiftieth an- | niversary of the Hospital Corps | Also a disaster aboard a British | sheltered and fed in the Hospital. | | All the refugees must have liked and experience to handle her chal- lenging task. Other staff members who are in key positions have become well- | known throughout the area, both to military and civilian personnel. Among them are Cdr. J. W. Huston who is chief of the De- pendents’ Service; Cdr. F. A. Butler, Chief of Medicine; Cdr. 4. J. Zuska, Chief of Surgery; | Cdr. B. F. Jones, Chief of Dental G. Bratenahl, watery Service; | Ledr. J. H. Cheffey, Chief of Orthopedic Service; Ledr, F. W. Cottrell, Jr., Chief of X-ray Serv- ice; and a score of others. To try to name the ones to list as ‘important’ persons would even- |'tually become merely a listing of the entire personnel of the Hospi | tal, because they are all important. thought is given to rank, creed or ing, until the “‘big blow” hit Sept. | ‘The Hospital is the center of me- | ‘dical activities in the area and plays an important part in main- {taining the professional standards | of medical practice in the commu. nity. Relations between civilian and service physicians are close and cordial, and the services of staff medical officer specialists are a- vailable to citizens of the communi ty when they are needed. Hospital Personnel At present the roster of officers include 43 commissioned persons in 5 branches. There are 19 mem- bers of the Medical Corps, 20 mem- bers of the Nurse Corps, one from Official U.S. Navy Photo CAPTAIN BRUCE E. BRADLEY (MC), USN, left, is the Commanding Officer of the U.S. Navel Hospital, Key West, and Commander Jesse D. Hodge (NC), USN, right is the Chief of Nursing Service. The aerial view of the Hospital, center, shows the size and beauty of the huge facility which serves Naval personnel and dependents in the Key West area, October 19 Is Tenth Anniversary Of Hospital Commissioning color. Service is given, the neces- sary things are done, and to decide on the relative importance of those who render the services would be like an old maid trying to make up her mind which man to marry. When the time comes, she'll take the first one available and at that moment he will be the most impor- tant. They Also Serve Of immeasurable value, too, are the enlisted men who are stationed at the Hospital. Chief William M. | Allen, finance officer; Chief H. A. Stevens, CMAA; Chief J. L. Ham- mond and Chief H. S. Coons, in the Commissary department; Chief S. . Carimi in the Captain's office; | Chief L. H. Moore in the Store- |room; HM1 V. E. Sheehan in the OOD and Information Office; HM1 When an emérgency comes in, no| A. T. Pringle, Laboratory; HM1 D. ‘a little bit too quickly, or W. Langston, maintenance; and pitalized a little bit too Key Chief B. W. Bradbury, X-ray are but the beginning of a long list. f which the organization of a would fold up. We take the work of the who help us at the much as a matter of best. Sometimes we have to wait for what duly long time for service. times we think we got i i i Pity thes Hy g 7 West! Read E KEY WEST CITIZE Citizen Staff Phote lic, and perhaps particularly toe silary wep Lt Get Acquainted With | hospital was opened clinical fa- | cilities afforded consultation and | therapy in general surgery, medi i cine, urology, psychiatry, roentgen- | lology, physiotherapy, ophtalmolo- | gy, dentistry, otorhinolaryngology, | |dermatology and laboratory diag- | nosis. Four and six months later, | respectively, the specialists of ob- | stetries and gynecology and pediat- seme degree the work load at the Navel Station dispensary, but ai- ready the powers that be in Washington were realizing that Key West was o strategic lece- tion eminently suitable for a per- manent full-scale Naval Hoxpitel New Medical Era December 181 marked the be- tilities, * The offer was accepted, and by Mutual consent the operation of the | Convent as a hospital was turned/ over to the Army, whose Medical | Corps arranged to care for the sick ‘and the wounded of both services. When the necessary renovations were made, the Convent became the Dental Corps, four from the Medical Service Co: | Captain Bruce E. Bradley is the capable, amiable Commanding Of- ficer. No stiff-necked sundowner, | Capt. Bradiey is a man you can talk to, a man who is always inter- 0 bed hospital with tents outdoors; ready for any emergency | “Veritable angels @ mercy,” the nuns were called for their work among the wounded at this time. And indeed even these angels must | have been pushed almost to the) breaking point when the and battle, of Santiago deposited 600 wousded | jm the hospital | in the between-ware tell, from | 1898 te the cutbresk of wer in Surepe in 1914, fife in Key West settied te an even tempe, beth for the civilians and the military personnel, Some censtruction was ginning of a new era in medical circles in Key West for the Navy, and on a smaller scale for Civilians. Tt was then that construction af the | U. 8S. Naval Hospital, Key West, was begun. The great day for the Hospital's / commissioning came on October 19 the following year, although & wes Got ustii October 2] that ps ects were trengierred from the Naval Station Dispensary to be the first listed patients of the new hos- pital Captein Jesse W. Alien, [MC USN, placed the Hespite! in com rics were added. These, like ether were added. These, like the other branches of medical service, were open to bona fide dependents of Navy, Coast Guard, Army, and bu- manitarian cases. Today the mission of the Mespita! is described as “to provid Bospita! facilities for Naval Personnel and their dependents, veterans, Mer chant Marine, Army, and bumaci tarian cases, in the Key West ares and for Naval personnel of ships and stations im the South Flerada area Aer V-J Dey carried on, in fect, hie wes heed | mission Ord took charge. The Whee the war was ove: & ested in the problems and welfare of the Hospital and its patients. Product of the Bluegrass stete Capt. T. D. Boar is the efficient Executive Officer, and Capt. Beez is 2 man whe gives « straight answer te « streight question. Although he expects his staft te cooperate and be at their best at elf times, Capt. Boar is s genial and weil-itked © Exe<.~ ‘The Nurse Corps is beaded by « woman who bes devoted her entire s ares be Navel er Jesse i Nens of the City, County, Nation and World