Toy Hospital.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14274, 13 August 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

Toy Hospital.

AT THE WHITE CITY. AVhen happy crowds of visitors to the White City suddenly descry the exhibit of tho West London Hospital, it is forced upon their minds that there are (says a Home paper), many people whom sickness has robbed temporarily, perhaps permanently, of all opportunity o! enjoyment. At such a moment few could resist the, ever-pressing claims of charity. This exhibit, situated in a far corner of the Hall of Machinery, might be easily over-looked. Yet it presents many interesting features, and on that account it is rather a. pity that it does not occupy a more conspicuous position. Nothing less, is it, than a miniature hospital, which lias no special visiting days, but may be freely inspected at almost any hour. It is well that the public should be enabled to see how the poor are tended in their time of sickness. Comparatively few people know actually from experience with what infinite trouble prior sufferers are nursed back to health again. For over half a century the West London Hospital has been carrying on its beneficent work, struggling against lack of funds, and against a lack of adequate accommodation. It began its career in a small six-roomed house, and grew with the growing population,

though it failed utterly to keep pace with ii.

Last year the number ol' in-patients admitted was 2,577,-while, the number of_oiit-patJents reached a. total ol' 30,5f)7. "W lieu it is remembered that the hospital server a. population estimated to !',> between 500.000 and 600,000, it "ill be readily imagined that the pressure upon the authorities is such that they are never able fully to discharge their task. The extension of the outpntionts' department is urgently necessary, and a. scheme having this object m view is now under consideration. Of course, a large sum of money must he raised before the Duke of Abercorn (the president of the hospital) and his colleagues can carry the scheme into operation.

Apart, however, from the question of space, there can be no doubt that the West London is a model hospital. Its staff of physicians and surgeons is a most strong one, . and its equipment combines all the very latest discoveries. Indeed, at the exhibit in question—for which Messrs Alfred Salmon and G. F. Marshall are mainly responsible— apparatus similar to that actually used at the hospital may be seen. The visitor to the exhibit first enters a curtained room. This is the X-rays department, where, if lie chooses he may subject himself to the penetrating light which has so mysteriously aided the work of the surgeons in recent Years. A number of radiographs, of wonderful clearness, are shown. Adjoining this room there is a reproduction of the operating theatre at the West London. Tin's lias been fitted up by the Hospitals and General Contracts Company, Limited, and it is replete with everything a surgeon could possibly require. In the centre is the operating table, which can be rapidly adjusted to any position. Close at hand is the instrument table, upon which the healthy man, at any rate, may look with admiration. Y hat strikes one particularly are the elaborate arrangements to ensure cleanliness. Everything which the surgeon will ust> in the course of an operation is passed through a steriliser. Moreover, to prevent .the operator's hands from coming into contact with anything not m an aseptic condition, the' sinks m the theatre may be worked either with the elbow or the foot. . *° tlle operating theatre there is a kitchen where nourishing delicacies are prepared. Here one of the nurses in attendance gives lectures during the day on the making of suitable foods for invalids.

A typical ward—m wlu'cli a model with a broken leg takes the nine- of a. human sufferer—completes the exhibit, Ihe whole is most, excellently arranged, and the nurses who await the filterings of the public ought to rather a rich harvest for the hospital. "