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History 1965 - 1975 |
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In 1959, when the West Wing was built, four patient floors were adequate to meet patient need. The trustees decided, however, to add an unfinished fifth floor in anticipation of future needs. Six years later, in 1965, the need was acute. Rooms for medical and surgical patients were filled to capacity month after month. Private rooms were seldom available, except for cases requiring isolation.
It was at this time that the trustees decided to finish and equip the fifth floor and to designate it as The John H. Finn Pavilion. For 25 years Mr. Finn was a member of the hospital's Board of Trustees and for 12 years its president. Under his leadership the hospital was greatly enlarged and improved, and through his foresight the unfinished fifth floor was added to the West Wing for future expansion.
The completion of the fifth floor added 41 beds plus nurses' station, an examination room, a large solarium and miscellaneous rooms.
Over the years, to keep pace with expanding patient facilities, the hospital's boiler plant building and equipment have grown and changed accordingly.
A 1929 Trustees' annual report mentions a contract for "an adequate heating plant, containing two new boilers and alterations . . . for the sum of $44,000.
The four-bed coronary care unit, within the hospital's larger intensive care unit opened in October 1968 with around-the-clock patient surveillance. Sensitive electronic equipment was used to monitor patients' hearts; other devices and medications were available to steady an erratic beat-even take over the heart's work in a crisis.
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