USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1916-1955 > Part 28
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Keeping pace with the times, adjusting itself to changing needs and conditions, the VNA has modified its policies and programs. In 1916, it began providing nurse service for the public schools in the city. This function was assumed by the School Department in 1919. Industrial nursing was inaugurated in 1918 and has since continued, with a full-time industrial nurse appointed in 1953.
The Association acquired its first automobile in 1920. Agency cars were used until 1941 when the policy of using nurse-owned cars was initiated. The Red Cross used VNA nursing service in 1921 to demonstrate the value of school nursing to neighboring towns, a service gradually taken over by the communities them- selves. The Association's rapidly expanding work in child wel- fare was assumed by the city government in 1921. The VNA was one of the charter members of the Community Chest upon its founding in 1924.
By 1925, greater emphasis was being placed upon pre-natal care and classes for expectant mothers. These classes-with classes for "expectant" fathers, too-remain a vital part of the program. Service in delivering babies was discontinued in 1945.
VNA added nursing in cases of communicable disease in 1932 at the request of several doctors. Since 1941, radio broad-
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casts by staff members have brought the care of certain diseases and the work of public health nurses to the community's atten- tion. The agency's services were extended to the residents of Lanesborough in 1950. VNA established with the Pittsfield General Hospital in 1953 a coordinated program designed to improve continuity of service for patients leaving the hospital, and to educate student nurses in better ways of meeting the general health needs of the community.
Red Cross
The Berkshire County Chapter of the American Red Cross was founded in Pittsfield in 1905, with Judge John C. Crosby as chairman. He was succeeded in 1914 by Arthur N. Cooley. Other Pittsfield men who have served as chairmen of the county chapter are William D. Wyman, (1920-23), Merle D. Graves (1933-37), Joseph M. Naughton (1937-39), Robert W. McCracken (1944-46), and William F. Leonard (1950-52). Since 1953, the chairman has been Forrest H. Judkins, of Lenox.
During World War I, the local Red Cross made surgical dressings, operated a supply and canteen service, and offered instruction in home nursing and first aid. Headquarters during the war were at 42 Wendell Avenue, in the home of the late Mayor Allen H. Bagg, who offered rooms for Red Cross work. The Henry L. Dawes house on South Street was used as a work place for almost a year. Early in 1918, the chapter engaged its first full-time worker, Miss Caroline Cooper, who headed the surgical dressings department and became the chapter's first executive secretary.
During the fall of 1918, in the fearful influenza epidemic of that time, the local Red Cross chapter established at the South Street Inn Tea Room an emergency home for the children of sick parents. This was made possible by the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Frank West, of Brooklyn. Food for the forty children in the emergency home, as well as for families heavily stricken with influenza, was prepared by the Community Canteen, or- ganized by Mrs. John Barker and operating at St. Stephen's parish house.
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After the armistice in 1918, Red Cross activities underwent a change. The surgical dressings department turned to provid- ing clothing, layettes, and other necessities for war refugees. Between World War I and II, activities were largely concen- trated in the Home Service Department, which late in 1918 established itself in rooms of its own on North Street, in the Miller Building. This department occupied itself increasingly with the problems of returned veterans and their families, aid- ing them in many ways. At the same time, the local branch moved its headquarters from the Bagg house, obtaining rooms at a very low rental in the Bay State Block on Fenn Street.
Junior Red Cross started in the schools in the fall of 1921. Among other classes, one in home nursing was organized and taught in cooperation with the Visiting Nurse Association. The College Club contributed money for equipment. A life-saving station was operated by Red Cross at Pontoosuc Lake during the summers, starting in 1923. Swimming classes were taught on Wednesdays, with the Chamber of Commerce offering its rooms as headquarters. The Motor Corps was initiated in 1929 and made more than a hundred calls that year. Staff assistants began serving in 1931.
In the depression days of 1932, the Red Cross organized classes to teach mothers how to prepare "Better Meals for Less Money." A program to aid people in working small gardens was inaugurated. Distribution of government flour to those receiving food orders through recognized agencies was under- taken. In 1932, the local Red Cross distributed to many hun- dreds of needy families almost 10,000 bags of flour, 1,700 yards of cloth, and many jars for home canning, the jars being contributed by Pittsfield householders. Gray Lady service was organized in 1936, and the local chapter began transporting children to the Dental Clinic.
Retiring in 1937 as executive secretary, Miss Caroline Cooper was succeeded by Mrs. S. John O'Herron, who had been treas- urer of the local Visiting Nurse Association. Mrs. O'Herron persuaded the county chapter that it should have a home of its
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own, and it bought the house at 63 Wendell Avenue, moving there early in 1939.
At this time, seventy-five women were enrolled as staff as- sistants, each having a definite half-day assignment a month. The chapter continued its assistance to the Workshop for the Blind, begun in 1924. In 1940, after eight years of work, volun- teers completed the translation of a three-volume book into Braille and presented it bound to the Workshop.
The outbreak of World War II again shifted the emphasis of Red Cross work. By March 1941, more than a thousand Pitts- field women were engaged in volunteer Red Cross work, sew- ing, knitting, crocheting, making surgical bandages, as well as carrying on the normal programs of home nursing, first aid, motor service, swimming classes, aid to the blind, and others.
A month after Pearl Harbor, the chapter established classes to train nurses' aides for work in four county hospitals-the House of Mercy and St. Luke's in Pittsfield, and those in North Adams and Adams. Within a year, ninety-three aides had been trained and were at work in these hospitals. In addition, more than 1,200 women were trained in home nursing.
The first Red Cross blood bank visit to the city occurred in April 1943. Almost 130 pints of blood were collected, to be processed into dry blood plasma for use by the armed forces. All blood visits during the war-one a week for a long period -were conducted at the Berkshire Museum. After the war, the blood program was turned to civilian uses. The chapter has never failed to meet its quota, having so far met the blood needs of every county resident.
Late in 1946, Red Cross volunteers in a service known as En- tertainment and Instruction began making weekly visits to the Veterans' Hospital at Leeds near Northampton, entertaining the patients with games, parties, refreshments, and informal talk. The group visits the hospital every Wednesday evening, and on alternate Tuesdays. In 1954, they made seventy-five visits, being held up only once by weather. The group now knows the Pitts- field-Northampton route so well that it can tell anyone inter- ested the exact number of turns in the road-121, in all.
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The Pittsfield branch of the Red Cross dissolved in Septem- ber 1949, and the house at 63 Wendell Avenue became the headquarters of the county chapter. In 1950, a refresher course, designed to provide additional trained nurses in the event of a polio epidemic, was conducted with the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The next year, cooperating with Civil Defense, Red Cross typed the blood of more than 3,000 persons. The blood program was expanded to provide gamma globulin, a blood derivative very effective in preventing paralysis from polio.
On her death in 1953, Mrs. O'Herron was succeeded as ex- ecutive secretary by Miss Anna M. Mahony, who had been in Red Cross work since 1943, coming to Pittsfield from Maine where she had been assistant administrative director of the state's defense blood program.
Late in 1954, the motor corps inaugurated a special service in Pittsfield, transporting retarded children to and from the classes established for them at Mercer School. Having with- drawn from the Community Chest in 1941 as necessitated by its special war work and appeals, the chapter rejoined in 1952.
The Red Cross is primarily a volunteer organization, and en- rollment in the local chapters varies from year to year. During 1954, more than 3,500 volunteers worked for the Berkshire County chapter out of its headquarters in Pittsfield, being en- gaged in many services-Motor Service, Nurses' Aides, Can- teen, Production and Supply, Nursing Service, Disaster, Staff Aides, Water Safety, First Aid, Junior Red Cross, Gray Ladies, and Social Welfare Aides.
Social Service Index
A powerful adjunct of all the health and welfare agencies, public and private, is the Social Service Index. It was established during the dark days of the Depression, in 1931, upon the rec- ommendation of two experts engaged by the Community Fund to survey relief conditions in the city. Sixteen organizations of various kinds-including the city and the state welfare depart- ments, as well as three business concerns-became members of
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the Index, each represented by two delegates with voting powers.
Dwight E. Jones, the first chairman, was succeeded in 1932 by Carl E. Cozzio, who served down to 1940. One of the found- ers of the Index, and a member of its Executive Committee ever since, was Charles H. Hodecker, who has been the city's Public Welfare commissioner since 1934.
The purpose of the Index was, and is, to provide a central information service, or exchange, where ages, birthplaces, ad- dresses, and other statistical data are readily available regarding persons seeking help from the social agencies, and where these agencies may learn of each other's interest in the same families. The Index cards contain no information as to the client's prob- lem, or the type and extent of the service given by the agencies. The service is designed to prevent duplication of effort and expense, and to promote careful and intelligent planning on the problems of families or individuals in need.
The Index now has forty-one members, ranging alphabetical- ly from the American Legion to the Women's Club. A large part of the vital statistics on file in the Index comes from the agencies themselves. But information is also obtained from newspaper items and other public sources. The files are con- fidential except to member agencies and properly authorized persons.
During the 1930s, although it functioned as a separate or- ganization, the Index was entirely financed by the Community Fund, and was governed by an Executive Committee of seven members. With increased Index membership, the Committee has been increased to twelve members.
Also, provision has been made to elect delegates-at-large. Such delegates constitute not more than a fifth of the total of delegates named by member organizations, which have two each. This enables the Index to draw upon the abilities and ex- perience of those "who have rendered significant service to the community and who would further the welfare of the agency."
During World War II, with Mrs. Thomas F. Plunkett as chairman, the work of the Index was largely concerned with
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those agencies specifically involved in war activities-with the Red Cross, in particular. It performed such special services as obtaining quickly the names and addresses of servicemen when emergencies arose; discovering the addresses of relatives who had moved, or of widows who had remarried, when the ques- tion arose of returning bodies of the war dead to America; and supplying the answers to many difficult problems.
All of the city's public and private welfare agencies, Chest and non-Chest, regularly use the Index. At the present time, it draws about 90 per cent of its financial support from the United Community Chest. The remainder is borne by the Red Cross, the City Welfare Department, and various welfare agencies. 1 The present chairman, Lawrence W. Peirson, succeeded Mrs. Thomas F. Plunkett in 1946.
Pittsfield General Hospital
Opened in 1875 and long the only hospital in Pittsfield, the kindly-remembered and well-named House of Mercy at the far end of North Street was renamed the Pittsfield General Hos- pital in 1949.
In its opening year, the House of Mercy had 22 patients. During 1915, its buildings and facilities having been greatly expanded, it cared for more than 2,000 patients. An out-patient clinic had been established in 1882 through the generosity of Zenas M. Crane, of Dalton. In 1889, the Henry W. Bishop 3rd Memorial Training School for Nurses began instruction in a building erected close by, connected with the House of Mercy by an enclosed corridor. Of the hospital's 150 beds in 1915, 51 were endowed; 85 of the rooms had been furnished by churches, organizations, and individuals.
As World War I approached, the hospital instituted classes in first aid and home nursing. A central diet kitchen, with a serving room, was installed. At this time, its old horse-drawn ambulance was replaced with one motor-driven. In 1918, hav- ing served as superintendent for eight years, Miss Mary Marcy resigned to do war work, being replaced by Miss Fanny C. Smith, who was succeeded the next year by Miss Ida J. Anstead.
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After the war, in 1919, the first bazaar for the benefit of the hospital was held in the Armory, netting $8,400. Two years later was held the first "Bargain Week" to raise money, and it proved so successful that it was made an annual affair.
Hospital expenses had so increased that for the first time the House of Mercy was obliged to borrow money to meet running expenses. With the aid of the Hospital Auxiliary organized in 1923, a fund-raising campaign was conducted, which brought in $328,000 and cleared the House of Mercy of debt and provided means for essential repairs. Meantime, in 1921, Senator W. Murray Crane of Dalton had left the hospital a legacy of $50,000.
In 1919, the hospital engaged its first anesthetist. It installed a central heating plant in 1920 and completed the Sampson Memorial Building for contagious diseases. In 1921, a room for records was established. Later, an automatic sprinkler system for fire protection and an electrocardiogramachine-the first in the area-were installed.
Resigning as superintendent in 1924, Miss Ida J. Anstead was succeeded by Miss Clara B. Peck, who administered the hospital for sixteen years. In 1924, the House of Mercy received $90,000 as a gift from Miss Anna B. Shaw of Lenox and a legacy of more than $92,000 from Miss Annie B. Clapp of Pittsfield. With this legacy, the hospital built and opened the next year the Annie B. Clapp Memorial Dormitory for Nurses. In 1928, for the first time in the history of the hospital, a man was elected to the governing body-former Mayor Charles W. Power, who was made treasurer.
The hospital was enlarged in 1932 with the opening of the Edward A. Jones Memorial Wing. In 1934, a doctors' lounge was built in memory of Dr. Henry Colt.
The Great Depression of the 1930s faced the House of Mercy with grave problems. All hospital salaries were cut 10 per cent as an economy measure. At the same time, the calls on the hos- pital increased, especially in the out-patient clinic, which had to be enlarged. A new admitting office was built in 1935. Clinics for dental extraction and for venereal disease opened in 1937,
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as well as a course for student dietitians, one of five such courses approved in the state.
During World War II, the hospital established the first blood plasma bank in the county. Seventy-five members of the staff left for war duty. To meet the emergency, refresher courses for nurses were instituted, and also Red Cross Gray Lady and Nurses' Aide courses. The Nursing School operated as part of the program of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps.
The post-war years brought the hospital increased responsi- bilities. The X-ray department was expanded to include deep X-ray therapy. The emergency room was relocated in the Jones wing. The building known as "II West" was renovated as a modern pediatric unit; "I West" was also completely remodeled and modernized, as was the main lobby. A physical therapy de- partment was established on the second floor of the Sampson Memorial Building.
In 1952, for the first time, a budget of more than $1,000,000 was accepted by the board of directors. The next year, an alco- holism clinic, sponsored by the State Public Health Department, was established in the out-patient department.
Having served as superintendent for 19 years, Miss Clara B. Peck resigned in 1943 and was succeeded by Miss Edith Atkin. Upon Miss Atkin's resignation the next year, Dr. Reo J. Mar- cotte was appointed as administrator, serving until 1953, when the present administrator, Harold L. Hutchins, Jr., took office. In 1954, the 5-day 40-hour work week went into effect for all the hospital staff.
During the year ending September 30, 1955, Pittsfield Gen- eral admitted more than 7,000 patients, whose average stay was about eight days. With its facilities taxed by the growing num- ber of patients and the increased requirements of modern med- icine and surgery, the hospital launched early in 1956 a cam- paign to obtain $1,500,000 for an expansion and modernization program, which would increase its rated bed capacity by 50 or more and improve its laboratories, operating rooms, clinics, nursing units, and other facilities. Previously, late in 1955, Pitts- field General had received a grant of $85,000 from the Ford
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Foundation, which also gave grants to the city's two other hos- pitals, St. Luke's and Hillcrest.
Hillcrest Hospital
Hillcrest, Pittsfield's next oldest hospital, was founded in 1908 by Dr. Charles H. Richardson, a surgeon of the city, who conducted it for a time as a private enterprise, taking only sur- gical cases. It grew out of his and others' belief that hospital accommodations in the county were insufficient for the increas- ing demands made upon them.
The hospital was incorporated in 1910 as a public charitable institution and soon changed from being a solely surgical to a general hospital. Its building at the corner of North Street and Springside Avenue had a maximum capacity of 24 beds. During its first two years, Hillcrest cared for more than 1,000 patients. In 1919, an annex was added to the main building, which was renovated in 1925 and again in 1943. A nurses' home on North Street had been established in 1929.
In the late 1940s, the hospital was left $350,000 in the will of Edward Benedict Cobb, a retired New York lawyer who had spent his summers in Pittsfield. Using this and other funds, Hillcrest bought the Salisbury estate on Tor Court, overlooking beautiful Onota Lake, in the western part of Pittsfield. The mansion on the estate was remodeled into a modern hospital with a hundred beds. Several thousand people attended its formal opening in 1950.
Late in 1955, Hillcrest received from the Ford Foundation a grant of $49,800 to expand its facilities. Since 1951, S. Chester Fazio, long experienced in community hospital organization, has been administrator.
St. Luke's Hospital
The now large St. Luke's Hospital grew out of small and modest beginnings in 1916, when Bishop Thomas D. Beaven of the Roman Catholic Springfield diocese bought property on Springside Avenue, using for the purpose a bequest left to the
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bishopric by a clergyman interested in charitable causes, the Reverend Charles J. Boylan.
On the property stood two frame buildings, which were re- modeled and dedicated as the Boylan Memorial Hospital, with the Sisters of Providence in charge. A School of Nursing was established.
As more were applying to the hospital than could be admit- ted, Bishop Beaven late in 1917 bought the large Allen estate on East Street and deeded it to the Sisters of Providence. The mansion on the grounds was remodeled into a 28-bed hospital. In February 1918, Father Bernard S. Conaty of St. Joseph's ded- icated the new hospital, christening it St. Luke's in honor of the patron saint of physicians. It was to be used as a maternity hospital, while medical and surgical cases would continue to be treated at the Boylan Memorial Hospital.
In 1922, finding its facilities inadequate, St. Luke's launched a drive to erect a modern hospital building on the southeast corner of its East Street property. Ground was broken in 1923, and the first patients were admitted on May 1, 1926.
A five-storied structure of dark Barrington brick and lime- stone, the hospital had 75 private rooms and 12 wards. Patients were transferred here from the Boylan Memorial Hospital, which was sold. Supervision of the new St. Luke's was entrusted to Mother Mary of Providence, who guided the development of the hospital for six years, until 1932, when she retired to the Providence Mother House in Holyoke, being succeeded by Sister Mary Ciaran.
Shortly after its opening, the hospital received a free bed endowment from the Community War Chest Fund and from the Eagle Tobacco Fund to provide care for ex-servicemen and Red Cross nurses of World War I. The Knights of Columbus later made a similar endowment.
In 1927, steps were taken to organize a medical staff. Fifty- six doctors signified their interest and were accepted for the active and associate staffs. Regulations and policies for the gov- ernment of the staff were formulated in accordance with the standardization of hospitals required by the American College
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of Surgeons. As there were no internes available, a young physi- cian, Dr. Francis J. Vaccaro, served as resident physician out of office hours.
As the hospital was heavily mortgaged, a plan was devised in 1929 to levy an assessment on the Catholic parishes of the county for ten years to create a fund for the payment of the interest and part of the principal. In 1931, St. Luke's placed a memorial tablet in the hospital corridor as a tribute to the mem- ory of the Reverend Charles J. Boylan, whose generosity had made possible the establishment of the first Catholic hospital in Berkshire County.
During World War II, Civil Defense authorities named the hospital as an emergency station for casualties. In 1942, collab- orating with the local Red Cross, 142 volunteer aides were trained to assist in emergencies. As a result of blackout regula- tions, an emergency generator was installed so that vital de- partments in the hospital could continue to operate if the city lighting system should fail. A refresher course was offered for nurses who had not practiced their profession for years. A blood bank was opened, and more than a hundred donors responded the first year. In June 1944, the Federal government sponsored the Cadet Nurse Corps. The hospital trained 77 cadets before August 1946, when the program was discontinued.
The hospital has a bed capacity of 185. It has a School of Medical Technology, and a School of Anesthesiology for Nurses. In 1955, St. Luke's received a grant of $69,300 from the Ford Foundation to expand its facilities and training programs.
In the new hospital's first full year of operation in 1927, 3,164 patients were cared for. By 1940, the number of patients had almost doubled. During 1955, the hospital cared for almost 10,000 patients. The supervisors of St. Luke's since 1934 have been Sister Mary Philomena (1934-1942), Sister Mary Louise (1942-1952), and the present Mother Superior, Sister Marie Reparatrice.
The St. Luke's School of Nursing admitted its first class- just six members-at the Boylan Memorial Hospital early in 1917. As the hospital expanded, the number of applicants grew
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proportionately, reaching a peak in the fall class of 1948, when 41 students enrolled. Ground was broken for a new nurses' home in 1949 on the old Brewster estate adjoining the hospital. The building, opened in 1951 as Madonna Hall, accommodates almost 170 nurses and 26 faculty members.
Late in 1952, the hospital bought the former Clapp property at 309 East Street for purposes of expansion. Eventually, ac- cording to present plans, it will be used as a convent for the Sisters.
Coolidge Memorial Hospital
Pittsfield had another hospital for almost half a century, down to 1953, when it closed its doors. It grew out of the work of the Pittsfield Anti-Tuberculosis Association, organized in 1907 largely through the initiative of Dr. Frederick S. Coolidge, a brilliant orthopaedist, who was suffering from the disease and eventually died of it. The association was incorporated in 1912.
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