NEW DENTAL CLINIC

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 111, 11 May 1940, Page 6

NEW DENTAL CLINIC

MODERN BUILDING

LATEST EQUIPMENT

TRAINING FOR NURSES

I The Dominion training school for i dental nurses, which incorporates the I den tall.-clinic for the school children of ' the Wellington metropolitan area, ■is to be opened on Tuesday -next. The j magnificent building in . Upper .Willis 'street, which will be the. training ! centre for dental nurses to "takef their 'places in the 300 odd school-dental 1 clinics throughout the country, incor•pcrates the best features of juvenile ! dental clinics, in various parts-of the i world, and its. equipment is "the-last ! word in appliances of this, kind.. i Everything within it has been designed with the child idea- in mind, from the miniature furniture .in . .the waiting rooms to the low-set-second banister rail on all stairs for the special convenience of juvenile climbers. I FIEST IN THIS COUNTRY^' The building, which is. 156 feet long, 56 feet wide* and 67 feet high-from | ground level, has four floors and a storeroom basement. It is the first structure of its kind erected in : this i country, and has been designed-with 'the idea of providing maximum flight, ifresh air, and healthy warmth. ; . for i patient and visitor. ... ! The ground floor is taken up. mainly !by the administration rooms,, main 'waiting rooms, and assembly hall. for I nurses and staff. To provide for-the | rapid exit of patients, parents, and I staff three separate exits are provided. ' ■ ■ ' ■ v , ! ' The first floor is devoted entirely Ito the training and education of nurses, and contains a preliminary operating . i room, where the nurses will receive itheir initial instruction, a main, .lecture room to accommodate 50 nurses, j a demonstration room, a lounge,- ? and dining-rooms. • v On the second floor the clinics are situated. The main clinic, which faces Willis Street, has accommodation for 49 dental units, and extends over the whole frontage, and has a depth of 23 feet and a ceiling height of 21 feet. A balcony is provided on the back 1 wall for the accommodation .of visitors. Other rooms on this flaor .are the extraction room, recovery room, and orthodontic department. .- At the rear of the large clinic a third floor forming a mezzanine to the-large cbnic is provided in which an: auxiliary v i clinic containing 12 dental units,-the : X-ray, and research departments are j located. Ample modern toilet accom- | modation is conveniently located on i the different floors. The construction lis such that an additional storey; may be added should conditions warrant it. . ■ . '..".■. .•.:: j A basement . extends under the : whole building providing space for | the heating plant, reserve nurses locker j room, and chemical . and general 1 stores. The ■ building is to be heated [by steam furnished by automatically stoked boilers, and is replete with a I lift and' all modern conveniences:: I A journey through the:building gives the visitor a striking impression of the time and study that has been expended'in' the planning:-■ arid: building; of !:the place/ -From; Lfirs> to^ilas^very■thing has been done to 1 "create gl&asant and congenial surroundings 'for," thosa who are to use it. . ' . .;.';." CHAIR INDICATORS. '■ An elaborate and efficient system of chair indicators is being installed .and a master call system; "of. loudspeakers will convey messages throughout the building. When a patient enters the front entrance hall from the street, ha will see a huge .board in front of him on which are the numbers of the chairs corresponding to the chairs in the main vclinic on the second, floor. The patient I already has his card of admission with the number of the chair plainly stated. , If his particular chair is occupied, a t red light is showing. \He then.. goes, with his parent- or. attendant,'..to,' the waiting-room, where a similar-vindi-cator board is erected. By keeping his eye on the indicator board ~■ the young patient will see when-his. chair is free, and he is then expected to make his way by lift to-the; clinic, where another system, of indicators leads^him unmistakably to<the.correct chaii* • ~-'*;. ; . In case he does not happen to see the light change when his t chair becomes'vacant, a loudspeaker calls m»name and the number of the-chair ne is expected to occupy. " This system of indicators and.calls is operated by the individual nurses m the clinic, who merely, press the appropriate buttons in the wall near their chairs. '-•- -•■:._■ The main clinic is a magnificen| room, with 18-foot windows and -three lines of the latest type of dental units, which incidentally were constructed almost wholly in New Zealand. The balcony overlooking this room, gives the visitor a comprehensive view ol the whole operation. ... ... Altogether the school embraces some of the latest appliances attach^ to dental clinics in any parts of the world. When the building was being, planned Dr J B. Bibby, principal of the Training School for Dental Nurses, was on leaVe abroad, and he had an. opportunity of visiting some of the best S in the U.S.A. and other countries, and hi? ideas, together with those collected by officials here from material gathered abroad, were ". incorporated in the design and carrying out of the building and equipment. In the main . entrance hall on ..the ground floor is to be a sculptured bust of Colonel T. A. Hunter, who was; the first Director of Dental Hygiene in New Zealand. This sculpture was presented by the members of the Ne«v Zealand Dental Association to. commemorate the magnificent work wnicft Colonel Hunter has done for dentistry in the Dominion.