OLD PEROPLE’S HOME

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 199, 23 July 1936, Page 8

OLD PEROPLE’S HOME

EXTENSIVE ADDITIONS. NEW WARES ERECTED. Important additions to the Old People's Homo at Awapuni thave been made by the. Palmerston North Hospital Board, the new buildings including two wards for chronic cases which should assist to relieve the congestion at the main Hospital. There is also an extension to a dormitory for aged men, and a nurses’ cottage. In addition, the original building has been re-roofed and strengthened to resist earthquake shocks, and the grounds are receiving attention. The new buildings are of reinforced concrete, faced with brick a.nd treated in white rough-oast. The roof in each case is green. The approximate cost of the whole of the additions and improvements is £9200.

Eight bedrooms, a sitting-room, bathroom, dining-room and kitchen are contained in the nurses’ cottage. The cottage is 53 feet square, and a white plaster finish with rimu doors and facings gives the interior a pleasingly nea.t appearance. The bedrooms are of a comfortable size and the sitting-room spacious and well lighted. It is provided with a brick fireplace and a lic-ating point. The dining-room opens directly off the kitchen, which has the usual appointments. The bathroom is fitted with two baths and a shower, white enamel and tiles being used on the walls and red tiles on the floor. The new ward for female chronic cases is attached to the main building, at the rear. Accommodation for 11 beds will be provided by this ward, which is equipped with a side-room, kitchen and bathroom. The heating system is of the hot-air type, the furnaco being in a cellar under the budding. The air supply can be controlled at its entrance point in the ceiling so that the temperature can be maintained at any desired level. For summer convenience the windows are wide and should allow of the maximum amount of light and air being obtained. Also at the rear of the building, and situated near the middle, an extension has been built on to a dormitory used by the aged men. The addition provides for eight beds. On the left wing of the main block there has been constructed a new ward for male chronic cases. It, too, has a side-room, bathroom and kitchen, a portion of the old main block having been remodelled for the inclusion of these rooms. The ward constitutes the largest addition to the main block and is designed to take 16 beds. A verandah runs along the side next the road so that when conditions are favourable the beds can be run out there. The men’s ward and ill# addition to the men’s dormitory are served by a second hot-air heating system. The new wards and the addition to the dormitory are finished in tile interior with white plaster and the floors are of wood. The design is of the conventional stvle for such buildings, and ramps lead up to the doorways from the ground level. For seven or eight months an average of about 30 men have been employed on the construction work, and the result of their labours is a credit to all concerned. General improvements are being carried out in the grounds, levelling and grading being attended to, while the gardens are also being put in order for the approaching spring. The present driveway is being extended across the front of* tile whole block and out to the road again. A tennis court is being laid down in the area encompassed by the drive. Arrangements have been made tentatively by the Hospital Board lor the new buildings to be operied officially about September 1, by which date, “ is expected, lloyal Assent will have been received to' change the institution’s name to “The Ring George V Memorial Home.” The Governor-Gen-eral (Lord Galway) is to be asked to perform the opening ceremony.