DUNEDIN HOSPITAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24738, 15 October 1941, Page 7

DUNEDIN HOSPITAL

EXTENSIVE BUILDING PROGRAMME NEW NURSES’ HOME WING While the commencement of the Otago Hospital Board’s major building undertaking, the erection of the Xray and Ward Block, is being delayed while the board awaits the approval of the Department of Health, other important buildings are in course of erection at the Dunedin Hospital. The new block of the Nurses’ Home is nearly completed, and the contractors are at present engaged in erecting the occupational therapy and workshop building. The board’s plans for a new nurses dining room and kitchen block and the massage department building, are in the hands of the Health Department, which is considering the type of materials to be used. When the department’s decision is made known, these buildings will be started immediately. The task of clearing the board’s property of numerous houses has been a big one. but practically the whole block is now ready for building. One house, which is occupied by a woman of 84, is being left intact as long as possible, and another building used for the temporary accommodation of nurses, are practically all that remains of the 30 houses that once filled the block. The work revealed many homes in a bad state of repair, and the clearance has removed houses which were overdue for demolition. , The new wing of the Nurses’ Home is a notable addition to the hospital buildings. It is nearly completed, and should relieve to some extent the shortage in accommodation for nurses that has prevailed for some time. As soon as the kitchen and dinjng room block is completed, however, it will probably be necessary to erect another wing to the Nurses’ Home. The recreation of nurses has not been overlooked in the present building programme. A lawn tennis court is being built, and a basketball court will probably be constructed for the use of the nurses. On top of the new building, provision has been made for deck tennis courts and for sun-bathing facilities.