USA > Illinois > Cook County > Growth of Cook County; a history of the large lake-shore county that includes Chicago, Vol. I > Part 17
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The Cook County School Of Nursing
This School was born to the heritage of rich traditions, of
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a secure position in the field of Nursing Education, and with a fully operating organization composed of students, facilities, a highly qualified faculty and a competently administered curriculum.
The early founders of its predecessor had defined the prin- ciples of administration, control and operation of the School; had defined the relationship between its own Board of Man- agers (Directors) and the Board of Cook County Commis- sioners which in turn determined the relationship of the School to the Cook County Hospital; and had established a sound precedent of communication and cooperation with civic groups-all of which pertained for the Cook County School of Nursing.
Control
The Board of Directors of the County School had seven members who had served several years on the Illinois Train- ing School Board and who continued to serve many years on the new one.
Purpose
The Board of Directors of the Cook County School of Nursing defined the purpose of the School in Article II of the By-Laws :
"The purpose of this corporation is to provide education in the science and art of nursing and to furnish nursing service to the sick and wounded."
' Traditionally, the Board of Directors of the School signed a contract periodically with the Cook County Board of Commissioners by the terms of which the School provided the nursing service to the patients in the Cook County Hospital and the County of Cook provided the funds which were used to operate the School. The format of the contract as well as the formality of signing became somewhat stylized through time and it happened that the relationship continued for some period of years without either the formality of signing or the restatement of the contract. Under the administration of the Cook County School of Nursing there have been only two contracts ; the original one in 1929 and another in 1939. On May 17, 1949, the Commissioners cancelled the contract with the understanding that a new contract would be entered
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into at the end of the "required time." (1949 Annual Message of William N. Erickson, President of the Board of Com- missioners. )
The first contract between the Commissioners and the Cook County School of Nursing was signed August 15, 1929.
Organization and administration of the Cook County School followed the same pattern as its predecessor. Director, one associate director, ten or more assistant directors (each in charge of the nursing service of a Clinical Division in the hospital), supervisors, pre-clinical instructors, non-nurse in- structors, and head nurses.
1949
The position of Associate Director of Nursing Service was created. Frances L. A. Powell, Cook County School of Nursing, 1931, was appointed.
Business administration was conducted by the office of the Business Manager, E. C. Overbeck, until 1955. Robert S. Petersen is the present Business Manager.
Personnel Administration
The position of Personnel Director was created in 1949 with the appointment of Laila D. Skinner. Lydia Brickbauer was appointed Assistant Personnel Director, in addition to her responsibilities as Director of Residence.
Educational facilities 1930-1935 were located in the last Residence building constructed .... by the Illinois Training School-"509" South Honore Street. The science labora- tories of "509" were located on the basement floor with an outside entrance that led down from the street level of Honore Street. The class rooms, the assembly hall and the demonstration room were on the first and second floors some- where in the maze of corridors of the north end of the build- ing. The well stocked library was on the first floor. The equipment and physical facilities for teaching and learning were more than sufficient to meet the recommended standards of the time even though in retrospect that equipment might seem to be quaint.
Programs offered by the School are the same as those that were offered by the Illinois Training School.
1) Basic, three year diploma program
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2) Courses for Affiliating Students
3) Hospital Dietetic Course
4) Courses for Graduate Nurses
Curriculum of the Basic Program
During the twenty-five years, the curriculum has under- gone tremendous change-because of internal and external influences. Although essentially the same subject matters are covered in 1955 as were in 1930, the course content, departmental titles, course names and number of hours per course have changed remarkably.
In 1932, three hundred and eighteen hours plus thirteen lengthly field trips were devoted to public health nursing and the social sciences. Apparently, during those dark years of the depression, major parts of the curriculum were given to help the student to understand how social ills and physical ail- ments interact.
The separate courses in Pathology and Public Hygiene and Sanitation have been absorbed into Medical Science.
Those who were in the School between 1932 and 1934 will recall that most of the basic sciences were given at the Uni- versity of Illinois under the supervision of department heads there with close guidance and instruction by instructors from the Cook County School of Nursing.
Those courses were returned to the class rooms and labora- tories at 1900 West Polk Street when that building opened in May, 1935. By 1939 the hours given to the Social Sciences and Public Health Nursing had been reduced to eighty-four. The students no longer made follow-up calls to the homes of patients nor did they have experience in Out-patient Obstet- rics with the University of Illinois to deliver babies in the home. Their only contact with homes was and is now through public health experience (V.N.A. or I.W.).
Certain changes in the curriculum must have been due to recommendations made by A Curriculum Guide for Schools of Nursing published by the National League for Nursing in 1937-or in anticipation of such recommendations. Intro- ductory Nursing became Nursing Arts I and II ; Problems in Field of Nursing was renamed Professional Adjustments; Bacteriology became Microbiology, etc. Certain changes in
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placement of courses were the result of decisions of the faculty in effort to promote better correlation of courses.
The Bolton-Bailey Act of Congress in 1943 which brought into existence the United States Cadet Nurse Corps, caused the curriculum to be accelerated, certain class hours to be reduced, and greatly increased the burden on instructors and instructing supervisors because of the tremendous increase in the number of students. Although the Bolton-Bailey Act expired in 1945 it was 1947 before the County basic cur- riculum was readjusted.
University of Illinois
In September 1949 the University of Illinois initiated a contractual arrangement, a type of affiliation, with the Board of Directors of the Cook County School of Nursing. Students who entered this joint program had their nursing courses at County and a specified formal academic program within the University. Although both bodies did make curricular adjust- ments, the relationship was never clearly defined. Between 1949 and 1954 our school was named "The University of Illinois-Cook County School of Nursing" and several stu- dents graduated from the continuation program with a Bach- elor of Nursing degree. During that period the School had both a diploma and a degree program.
In 1954 the relationship was severed by mutual agreement. The "University of Illinois" was dropped from the School's name. But throughout that five year period the alumnae association was faced with the unhappy prospect of becoming an organization without a school-just as the Illinois Training School had been twenty years before.
Customs and New Traditions
1. The County School perpetuated the student government association, "Big Sister" Committee plan, the choral group (for a few years), regular weekly teas, and other social functions that were begun in the days of the Illinois Training School.
2. "Capping" has always been a distinct evening function usually with a speaker.
3. Graduation exercises, once held at Murphy Memorial Hall, have been conducted at the Residence since 1935 except-
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ing for the few years the 'students joined in the University of Illinois commencement on Navy Pier.
4. In 1933, the students started a school paper called "The Chatter" which they mimeographed on an old hand-operated machine. Later the paper was called "The Chevron" and was printed.
5. The annual springtime "County Fair" has grown to a gala event of gaily decorated booths, talent shows and a genu- ine carnival atmosphere, staged on second floor foyer and in the students lounge. The event is followed by the annual spring house cleaning by the janitors, painters, etc.
6. The School now accepts married students. Enrolled stu- dents are asked to consult the faculty regarding their inten- tion to marry while in the school.
7. Social privileges (late-leaves and overnights) are more numerous and generous and parallel privileges usually granted in colleges.
8. Organized social and athletic events now are planned for participation by the various student groups in the West Side Medical Center.
9. The School considers for admission any young man or woman applicant who meets the requirements as outlined in the school bulletin. Nine men have graduated and there are two graduating this year.
10. A newer tradition has persisted from World War II days-periodically the students are guests of Fort Sheridan for dances. The post bus calls for and returns the students to the Residence.
Residence 1929-1930
Due to the unusual circumstances the County Commis- sioners were paying rent to a private University (of Chicago) for housing the students and personnel of the Cook County School of Nursing at "509" South Honore. Also "509" could not house all personnel.
A special advisory committee recommended the construc- tion of a large Residence. A Public Works Administration Loan of $2,500,000.00 plus a bond issue were planned. Con- struction began and halted at ground floor level in 1931 because of insufficient funds due to under-subscription of the
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bond issue.
Building was resumed in 1934 and in May 1935 the seven- teen story Residence was opened for occupancy.
Generally speaking the building has had excellent main- tenance and today, in its twentieth year, can be ranked high in modernity, efficiency and comfort.
Directors
1929-1932 Miss Laura Logan
1932-1937 Miss Edna Sadie Newman
1937-1942 Mrs. Ada Reitz Crocker
1942-1948 Miss Edna Sadie Newman
1948-1949 Acting Director, Miss E. Elizabeth Geiger
1949-1954 Miss Geiger
1954-1955 Acting Director, Miss Frances L. A.
Powell
May, 1955 Miss Powell
Miss Logan has retired from active nursing and is living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mrs. Crocker also retired and is in Altadena, California. Miss Newman retired from active nurs- ing in the summer of 1954 and is now occupying her very new home in Chesterton, Indiana. Miss Geiger became Direc- tor, Chicago Wesley Memorial Hospital School of Nurs- ing in September, 1954, succeeding Miss Newman there as she did here.
In 1950 Miss Samelson was appointed as Recruitment Officer. Mrs. Claire Page has been employed as a public rela- tions officer since 1947. Dr. Melvin Afremow and Miss Lydia Brickbauer are almost traditions. Formerly Dr. Afremow was assistant to Dr. Paul Rhoades, the school physician. But for many years now he has been Chief Attending Physi- cian with office in the well-equipped, well organized In- firmary on the fifteenth floor of the Residence. Miss Brick- bauer has been director of the Residence for a long time and more recently has the added functions of Assistant Personnel Director.
It would be impossible to list the contributions made by individuals to the continued growth of this School. For many
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years there have been twenty some standing committees comprised of faculty members. The faculty included the ex- ecutive group, the supervisors, the head nurses, the instruc- tors, librarian, personnel directors, and representatives from the social service and dietary departments. Those committees such as the procedure, in-service staff education, records, and others-contributed a very great deal to keep the standards of theory and practice at optimal levels.
Other persons less intimately associated with the activities of the School exerted considerable influence on its life. That was particularly true of the members of the Board of Direc- tors who served through many years. Mr. George B. McKib- bin, Mrs. Bruce MacLeish, Dr. Nathan S. Davis, III, Mrs. Grace F. Schryver, Mr. Fletcher Durbin and Mrs. Harry Hart were active members from the latter days of the Illinois Training School to beyond the first twenty years of the Cook County School. Mrs. MacLeish, in her activities with the household committee, was constant in her interests and efforts in maintaining and improving the Residence.
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OAK FORES HOSPITA!
OAK FOREST
COOK COUNTY
HOSPITAL OF COOK COUNTY
Entrance to Oak Forest hospital as it appeared in 1959.
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CHAPTER 10
OAK FOREST HOSPITAL
HE days of the so-called "poorhouse" are numbered in America, and by 1956 already had come to an end in Cook county, both officially and otherwise.
Not that public aid is no longer needed, even tho a society, as a whole, may be thriving. The need will always be present, but now it is administered in more than a dozen other ways to the financially unfortunate of all ages.
Instead of going "over the hill to the poorhouse," a dread that haunted older people for centuries, or the fear of a widowed, financially-distraught mother that her small children would be torn from her and placed in an orphanage, humane planning has brought both mental and financial aid.
Now aid can come from any of the following sources:
Old Age and Survivors Insurance (Federal Social Security) that brings monthly checks to men of 65 years and over and women of 62 and over if they have paid into the fund during their working years.
Old Age Assistance, paid for from state funds but admin- istered by counties, for needy men and women of 65 and over who cannot qualify under the Social Security program.
General Assistance, for all age groups, supported with state
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and local funds, but administered by local municipalities under the direction of the Illinois Public Aid Commission.
Aid to the Blind, state and federal funds administered by the Cook County Department of Welfare.
Foster Home Care of Dependent Children, public and pri- vate funds administered by the county, city of Chicago, state, and private welfare agencies.
Aid to Dependent Children, funds contributed by the state and federal governments, and administered by the Cook County Department of Welfare.
Pensions, financed by the individual and employer during the period the recipient was employed in private or public enterprise.
Pensions for disabled war veterans, administered with fed- eral funds.
Funds from various insurance plans paid for by the worker during his earning years. .
Low-cost housing projects, financed by federal, state and city agencies, available to low-income families.
State unemployment compensation, financed from contribu- tions by employers and state governments, and supervised by the federal government.
Hospital and medical care insurance carried by individuals.
Churches and other private charities that maintain homes for the aged, hospitals for children, and, in some cases, limited grants of money to the needy individuals.
Employment agencies, both private and public, that help in finding suitable jobs for the unemployed.
Wider use of the want-ad sections of newspapers in finding jobs for the employable.
Gradual lowering of barriers against the employment of women, and a similar onslaught against employment barriers that have existed because of race, creed, color, and physical handicaps.
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Where public aid becomes necessary, the recipients, whether they live in Cook county or elsewhere, will not become affluent. In fact, only their barest wants will be met. But they may con- tinue to live in familiar surroundings with a degree of dignity unknown to previous generations. Even in the case of de- pendent children, with the aids that now are available, the youngsters can continue to live in the home they know and with the mother they love.
Cook county's beautiful Oak Forest hospital. as seen from the air in 1958. Once a "poor farm," now a dignified haven of hope for the destitute, chronically ill, most of whom are aged.
Cook county's poorhouses, from the first almshouse that the county board established on the public square shortly after the county was incorporated in 1831, down to the Oak Forest Infirmary or poor farm that began operation in 1910, the basic idea was the same. The destitute of all ages had to be fed and housed, and altho those who administered public gratuities did so with a degree of kindness, the bare fact was that the
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general public, preoccupied with earning a living, gave little thought to the care of these unfortunates.
With the dawn of the era of public aids, however, the pic- ture at Oak Forest, as elsewhere, began to change. Fewer and fewer of the destitute, who were able-bodied, found it neces- sary to go there to live out the remaining years of their lives.
The administrators of Oak Forest were encouraged when the peak load of nearly 4,300 inmates at the institution during the 1930s began to dwindle. Of material aid in this direction was the aforementioned social security benefits, the distribu- tion of which began in January of 1940. (The legislation. sponsored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, had been en- acted by Congress in August of 1935, and altho it became effective on Jan. 1, 1937, the first monthly benefits that were accruing under it could not be paid out until three years later.)
Thus it was that by 1940 Oak Forest ceased, in effect, to be a poor farm, and gradually became a charitable hospital, augmenting the greatly overcrowded County hospital. It was a place in which Cook county could care for its chronically ill, leaving the facilities at County hospital available for more emergent and acute cases.
The final break-away from the "poorhouse" idea came in 1956 when the state department of public health licensed the entire institution to operate as two hospitals-one for the care of the chronically ill, and the other for the care of the tubercu- lar. On Oct. 1, 1957 the county board adopted a resolution, introduced jointly by President Daniel Ryan and Commissioner James F. Ashenden, chairman of the board's Oak Forest Insti- tutions committee, changing the name simply to "Oak Forest hospital."
More Space Needed Per Patient
The complete conversion to a hospital, however, brought about certain restrictions that were to plague the county board. Principal of these was the state requirement that each patient
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be allotted a minimum space of 800 square feet-an area 8 feet wide by 10 feet long.
This gradually reduced the number of patients to some 2,600 in 1957. Of this latter figure 2,180 were in the chronic disease unit and 420 in the tubercular unit.
This pinch for space prompted County Commissioner John Mackler, Jr., in November of 1957 to call for the construction of additional hospital wards. He said "two-thirds" of the elderly sick persons in need of hospitalization at Oak Forest died before they could be admitted because of lack of bed space and beds.
Mackler asked that a portion of the $9,600,000 worth of Oak Forest rehabilitation bond money authorized at the June 3, 1957 referendum be used for this expansion.
"With our ever-growing population," commented President Ryan, "we'll never have enough bed space at Oak Forest. If we had 200 more beds there today, we'd have them filled by tomorrow. Before long, however, we may have to float another bond issue to increase the size of the institution."
In the meantime, President Ryan appointed a three-man committee of medical experts to work with Supt. Carl K. Schmidt to determine what existing space, if any, in the Oak Forest buildings could be converted from present uses to bed space. The committee consisted of Dr. Karl A. Meyer, medical superintendent of all county institutions; Dr. Eugene J. Ches- row, medical director of the chronic disease unit at Oak Forest; and Dr. George C. Turner, medical director of the Oak Forest tuberculosis unit.
Space Put To Best Use
Near the close of 1957 the committee of doctors reported to President Ryan that by knocking out certain wall partitions, by making large rooms out of smaller ones which had been used for other purposes, and by converting some of the living- room space into hospital wards, space could be found for 120 more beds for the chronically ill.
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By using the county's own staff of workers, including plumb- ers, carpenters, painters, and electricians, under the direction of Gerald J. Sullivan, superintendent of maintenance for all county institutions, this particular remodeling work was completed in 1958.
To care for these additional patients, who were admitted as the rooms became available, the county had to hire an addi- tional 31 employes, such as nurses, attendants, and janitors. An additional $140,000 was appropriated in the 1958 budget to meet the expenses of caring for these added patients.
Total 1959 appropriations for Oak Forest hospital were $7,798,267, and the number of employes fixed at 1,359, of whom 48 were physicians, 70 registered nurses, and over 400 men and women who serve as practical nurses and orderlies.
Because figures fluctuate considerably during any period of readjustment, let us here note that by the beginning of 1959, Oak Forest had 2,719 beds, of which 2,290 were in the chronic disease hospital and 429 in the tuberculosis hospital. Average bed occupancy in the chronic disease unit was 99 per cent, considered by hospital administrators to be as high as possible because of the goings and comings of patients.
On June 10, 1959, the count was 2,213 chronically ill, and 270 tubercular. During 1958 the total number of chron- ically ill who were given care was 3,480, and tubercular, 806, for a grand total of 4,286.
Progress during a rehabilitation and building program such as was under way at both Oak Forest and County hospitals during 1958 and 1959 and which was to continue for the next two or three years is difficult to report in preparing materials for a book because, by the time the book is off the press and in the hands of the public, the situation will have changed.
A mid-1958 development, however, was the decision of the county board to add over 200 beds at the chronic disease unit
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at Oak Forest by constructing a three-story wing adjoining the receiving department. The cost, estimated at $2,400,000 was to be met thru the sale of a portion of the $9,600,000 bond issue. These additional beds, together with those mentioned previously, would bring the bed capacity of the chronic disease unit to around 2,500.
Oak Forest hospital is composed of 60 buildings in which there are some seven and one-half miles of corridors. These buildings are spread over 337.5 acres of land-some wooded and some in fields-that lies at the south-east corner of Cicero avenue and 159th street, adjoining the village of Oak Forest, in Bremen township, some 19 miles south-west of Chicago's loop.
With all court house records destroyed by the great Chi- cago fire of 1871, and with the meager newspapers of the 1840s and 1850s paying little attention to Cook county affairs, we have been unable to determine the exact date on which the county abandoned its first almshouse which had been built on the public square in 1832.
Circumstantial evidence, however, makes it appear as tho a down-town almshouse was maintained until 1855.
In 1847 those of the paupers who were sick were removed from the almshouse and placed in the newly established County hospital in Tippecanoe Hall on the corner of Kinzie and State streets, as recounted previously in the chapter on County hospital.
The presence of the poorhouse in the heart of a budding young metropolis was an unsavory thing to the proud towns- folk and they insisted upon its removal.
Moved To Dunning
The county board in 1851 purchased for poor farm purposes 160 acres of farm land, owned by Peter Ludby. The farm lay in Norwood Park township, 12 miles northwest of downtown Chicago.
At first the poor farm was referred to as "Jefferson" because
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the nearest railroad station (on the North Western railroad) was at the then village of Jefferson, two miles to the east.
Later on, however, the county, at its own expense, constructed a three-mile-long spur railroad connecting with the Milwaukee line to the south. The county also constructed a depot at the farm, naming it "Dunning" in honor of a prominent pioneer family of that community.
Trains, bearing both passengers and supplies, were run di- rectly to the farm from Chicago. (The site now, of course, is that of the Chicago State hospital, an institution for the mentally ill, and altho in Norwood Park township, the mailing address is 6500 W. Irving Park road, Chicago.)
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