NEW HOSPITAL AT KEW

Southland Times, Issue 22999, 19 September 1936, Page 8

NEW HOSPITAL AT KEW

Almost Completed

EVERY CONVENIENCE FOR PATIENTS On November 8, 1917, a new public hospital at Kew was first suggested; in October 1933, work was begun on the buildings; and in January 1937, the new hospital should be ready for the reception of patients. The building is now completed, the painters are just finishing off their work and only the floor coverings remain to be laid down.

No longer does one have to conjecture what the scheme will look like when the final touches are added. The symmetry of the design, the wealth of sun which the buildings will receive, and the ease with which communication can be made with one block and another are already apparent. When a Southland Times reporter visited the hospital yesterday only 12 workmen were employed—a marked contrast to the numbers employed when the building work was at its height. In the peak period of activity 180 men were “on the job.” The small X-ray block is the only building which remains to be completed. Effective Simplicity.

The main entrance on Kew road gives a foretaste of the effective simplicity of design that marks the new buildings themselves. Flanked by curving walls of red brick, the gateway leads into a broad drive. There is no gate. Ferroconcrete pylons, placed at intervals along the drive, will carry electric lights. The drive is in the form of an ellipse, so that motorists, instead of backing in front of the administration block, will be able to continue past the door to rejoin the drive on the way out. The drive encloses an area of ground which will, when the landscape architect’s plans are approved, be laid out in ornamental trees and shrubs.

The-visitor’s expectations are further heightened by the pleasing entrance to the administration block. The walls are tiled in soft marble-green colours, while the offices to the left of the doorway are partitioned off with plate glass. On the bottom floor are the medical superintendent’s office and the house surgeon’s office to the left, and on the right is the out-patients’ waiting room, the consulting room, the surgery and the oculist’s room. The business of the hospital will be carried out in this part of the building; out-patients will bring their troubles within its walls, and a modern dispensing room has been installed to minister to those troubles. Laboratory investigations will be made in its upper storey. Upstairs also are the house surgeons’ private quarters—three bedrooms, bathrooms and a sittingroom. It is a handsome building and will provide an admirable centrepiece to the hospital. The Main Block. The main block, situated on the western side of the ground, presents an imposing appearance, rising as it does to three storeys, with a slate roof. An abundance of windows ensures that patients in every part of the building will receive a maximum amount of sunshine. That the men have taken a pride in their work is shown by the immaculate fittings in every room. Plasterers have put such a pure white glaze on the walls that they have the appearance of porcelain. Bathrooms, sterilizing rooms and other necessary adjuncts to a hospital are all finished with gleaming tiles. An innovation is that which provides means for ambulances to back right into the corridor leading to the inpatients’ ward. The nursery ward will prove a happy place for those children who are forced to spend some time in hospital. Around the walls are coloured tiles which illustrate well-known nursery rhymes. These tiles were supplied by the Little Southlanders, contributors to the Children’s Page of The Southland Times. Convenience For Cooks.

In rear of the main block are the kitchen and laundry, with their numerous adjuncts. The kitchen walls are tiled, and the floor, unlike that of the rest of the building, is of wood, so that the feet of the cooks will not grow weary. Off the kitchen is a diet kitchen, a servery and four dining-rooms, one for the nurses, one for the doctors, one for the maids and one for the porters. The maids sleep above the kitchen block, which also contains a large bulk store.

The laundry contains all sorts of labour-saving devices on a large scale. In the rear of it is the boilerhouse containing an enormous double boiler which will supply a continuous flow of hot water to all blocks, as well as providing central heating. The outstanding impression left on even the most casual visitors to the new hospital is that every advantage has been taken of modern science to ensure that those to whom the hospital will be a home, or temporary home, will have every need catered for. Nor have the nurses been forgotten. There are more than 70 bedrooms in the nurses’ home, which is in the eastern-most building. Each nurse will have to herself a room fitted with wardrobe and dressing table. The matron has a suite, and there are lecture rooms, sitting-rooms and studies. On the ground floor is a long room which can be used for a social or a dance. Upstairs is a wide and sunny balcony. Though separate entities all four blocks are connected by a w-ide corridor, the concrete floor of which has been laid throughout. This should prove a boon in rough weather. Kew, however, is fairly well sheltered by trees, and there is nothing to shut out the sunshine. In this respect the new hospital will enjoy yet another advantage over the old.