THE CHRISTCHURCH HOSPITAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4572, 17 February 1893, Page 3

THE CHRISTCHURCH HOSPITAL.

c ■' : Improved Ventilation. The House Committee of the Christchurch Hospital Board is to be complimented on having succeeded in placing Nos. 1 and 2 Wards in a sanitary con- : dition. This has been accomplished by a most simple, but at the same time ingenious and effective plan, which commends itself to similar institutions as a sure means of ventilation and a complete preventive against draughts of cold air. The two wards which but recently were condemned by the medical staff, on the ground of their insanitary condition, are those facing the north, and are situated at the extreme east end of the building. They have been in use for over thirty years, but as was shown on investigation the woodwork was sound, and there was no reasonable explanation given for the stuffy and unwholesome atmosphere that always seemed to hang about the rooms. After Mr J. Goes had made openings from each floor to the roof ventilators, shafts were provided from each zoom, thereby affording an egreeß for the foul air. While engaged in this work, Mr Goss' workmen found that the' roof ventilators had been (judging by the large number of dead birds, feathers and bones found there) converted into a mortuary for these intruders, the emell of which must, to a certain extent, have been conducted into the rooms below. This they have prevented in the future by covering the ventilators with small meshed wire netting. These improvements made a vast difference in the temperature of the . rooms, bat Mr Gobs suggested another plan, which, the Committee wisely adopted with a view of adding to the sanitary condition of the wards. This consists of an additional half window sloping inwards, and built over; and . round the top half of each, window, with the opening only at the top, so that no draught can come below the top of the window itself, but the air passes direct into the middle of the room. Thus, when the window itself is opened at. the top, this casement preventa the current of air passing below it, and the patients can sit or lie within any part of the room without suffering discomfort, while the windows being open on both sides allow of a free current of fresh air passing all round the room. The contrivance is very inexpensive, but the results are highly satisfactory.