|
Washington PA Newspapers:
|
Both Sites:
|
McDonald PA Newspapers:
|
|
Remainder of Genealogy / Family Sites
| Use every search for best results. |
Notice: In order to continue using the free side of
Pico Search, the 2 Sites had to be split into separate searches. |
Focusing on the lives
of any person or family who has lived in Little Washington,
Washington County, Pennsylvania at anytime throughout
history to recent times, through data and family stories.
NEW SEARCH BOX ADDED
WASHINGTON HOSPITAL
Wilson Avenue
WASHINGTON PA
724-225-7000
Rather than fact-only (and often boring) information, I'd like
to describe my impressions and experiences of some landmark places in
Washington. Strictly history type information can be easily found on other
Washington County, PA websites.
I don't have a complete history of the hospital system in
Washington, but I do know some facts. The City Hospital was built in
1906-7. They built a second time at the corner of Donnan Ave & 2nd
Street.
The Washington Hospital was at one time on Acheson Ave., which
is now converted to a residence.
The City Hospital merged with Washington Hosp in 1922 and the
current hospital was built in 1927.
Washington Hospital - Only old postcards
or photos can do justice to the old original hospitals, and to the ediface of the Washington Hospital at its
current location on Wilson Ave. The hospital has had so many additions and
changes that the front of the building can no longer be seen from Wilson Avenue.
Gone from view are the two or three balconies that were once attached to the front rooms on higher floors.
Only one balcony survived the additions made to the hospital. At times,
persons are allowed to go out on that balcony with permission (such as hospital
employees).
Let's start with the
"stately" although short drive-way. Brick columns sit on both
sides of the drive. At one time, a small guard house was near the
right column. Cars stopped to speak to the guard, before moving into the
drive and immediately going up a slope. The short (100 foot?) driveway in
the 1950s had parking on both sides of its sloping surface, so that passengers
had to crawl "upwards" to get out the passenger door when the car was
parked on the left side, or the driver had to battle to keep the car door open
while getting out of the car if parked in the right spaces. I can remember
my grandfather driving us to the hospital (probably to pick up mom from a visit)
and how we struggled to keep the door open on our side, blocking it with a foot
if no one was there to hold the door.
Unfortunately, my
father was often ill between 1948 and 1970 when he died, so we spent quite a lot
of time at the hospital. In those early days, children under age 12 were
not permitted to visit patients. So my father would come out on the
balcony outside his room to "visit" us kids. We'd gather in the
parking lot under his window, waiting for the few minutes he'd spend. Then
a relative would take us to their house while mom went in to visit dad for a few
hours. She'd wear her grey suit with a small hat on her head, looking like
she was going to church rather than a hospital. At the time, women
"dressed up" when in public, compete with stockings that attached to
girdles, a stylish hat on neatly curled hair and white short gloves, and of
course, a small black shiny pocketbook of patent leather.
Above the main entrance, a
half-circle type rotunda-roof extended out from the building.
Inside the main door
of the hospital, the foyer was wide and almost as long. This area doubled
as a waiting room also, but children could not be left here. A front desk
was manned 24 hours a day, where you had to stop to get a visitor's pass.
Going down the long hallway, you'd come to the old elevators and stairs that
took you up to the rooms. There were wards (more than 4 patients in the
same room) and 4-bed rooms, 2-bed rooms (semi-private) and 1-bed rooms (private
rooms). The hospital smelled of disinfectant and alcohol and all sorts of
"medicine-y" type smells, even in the front foyer.
By the time my dad
was dying in 1970, hospital rules were more lax and we were allowed to visit
him, even my 3-year old little sister. The rules had been that no
child under 12 years could visit; the front main lobby often had 4 or 5 younger
children waiting, with an older child or adult watching the younger ones. Throughout the years,
changes have been made to visitation policies. Now, they do not allow
children under 5 to visit at all, except to the maternity ward. Children
aged 5-12 years now can visit, but must be supervised by a parent or adult at
all times.
Around the 1950s, the 312 bed hospital began expanding.
Major renovations and expansions were done in 1963. The S-wing was added,
they changed the rotunda, a pediatric unit was
added, the laboratory and X-ray department was enlarged, and they added a teenage unit,
a neuro-psych unit, and the intensive care unit. They expanded the premie nursery,
made a larger out-patient area and also the School of Nursing was expanded to
house more resident student-nurses.
In 1971, 20 new psych beds were added, along with a 12 bed cardiac unit,
and a respiratory care dept. At that time, the Washington Hospital
had 583 beds and 44 basinets. With the expansions, more parking was
required. In 1976 a multi-story parking garage was built on the corner of
Wilson. While it provided needed and easily accessible parking, most city
residents feel the parking deck detracts from the exterior of the hospital,
which is almost entirely blocked from view on Wilson Avenue.
By the 1980s, health care and health care insurance plans
underwent major changes as well. Many changes were driven by reduced
payment or coverage by health insurance. A new trend began of sending
patients home faster; instead of 1 to 3 weeks admission that was common in the
1950s and 1960s, or a 7-day stay after labor and delivery, patients were often
sent home within 3 to 5 days, including new moms and babies. Hospice
centers, home-hospice services, and home care were started to meet the needs of
these patients. My second job was in a newly formed home care company,
where nurses drove from one patient's home to another patient's home to provide
all types of care and patient education. Twenty-five years later, the idea
of hospice and home care as commonplace now as it was in the pre-1960s to expect
long-term admissions to the hospital.
Hospital beds continued to be reduced in the last 25
years. Washington Hospital, like others, began building satellite centers
where patients could receive out-patient diagnostics & services, and even
out-patient surgeries. These surgeries at first were only for the most
minor of surgical diagnoses, but that too has expanded into other surgical
problems like arthroscopy (such as arthroscopic knee surgery). Patients
could do walk-in visits to out-patient laboratories for blood to be drawn and
tested. More private companies started for the actual blood testing;
couriers made pick-ups of blood draws and took the specimens to the company's
lab facilities. Now, there are both on-site laboratories at the satellite
centers, and private companies do pick-ups if there is no lab on-site.
A new 10.5 million cancer center was formed in 1989.
Cardiac services have expanded; a friend who lives in Fredericktown told me the
Washington Hospital is doing open-heart surgeries and some transplant surgeries
now. In the 1980s when I was in nursing school, "complex
patients" were routinely transferred to one of the major Pittsburgh PA
hospitals, but this is no longer the trend.
All of these changes in insurance and delivery of health care to
be community-based rather than in-hospital based has caused a reduction to 265 beds now
in Washington Hospital. But, they still provide more state-of-the-art
diagnostics and services! The Hospital continues to provide
in-patient and out-patient education services.
In 1997, The Washington Hospital celebrated their 100th Anniversary.
Anyone looking for a new doctor can contact the Medical Staff
Office to ask for the Physician-Referral Guide.
Learn about some Washington Co. towns, boroughs and areas in
the Town-Talk pages.
If you are looking for documents, newspaper
items, obituaries, etc. for
families of Washington Co., PA and surrounding areas, see my primary website at:
"Little
Washington," Washington Co., PA: Genealogy and Family History
McDonald
Area Newspapers are also on the Little Washington website.
Uptown
Landmarks -1
Uptown Landmarks -2
For pictures of some places, go to
Washington
PA Nostalgia
A few current street scenes are at the City
Hall website.
Street
Map of 1 South Main Street
and surrounding streets uptown (Mapquest)
City Development pages
and current development
projects map.
Main
Street Newsletters
The City Hall website states:
"His original plot bears the name "Bassett, alias Dandridge
Town," but before the plot was recorded, lines were drawn through
"Bassett, alias Dandridge Town" with ink, and the word
"Washington" was written above."
and
"The town was incorporated as a borough on February 13, 1810, and
became a city of the third class in 1924."
Long Ago Locations: (please send me your additions to
this list)
The old-old post office on Maiden Street.has been City Hall for
decades.
The "new" (many decades-old) Post Office was the site
of __________.
Millcraft Center built in the mid 1970s was the site of a small
diner owned by Pete Paradise (a Greek Confectioner who homemade candies and
strong coffee) and other business store-fronts including a furniture store.
The Cort Theater was down near Pete's in the 1950s.
The Basil changed to Uptown Theater -- now a live
band-entertainment site.
The State Theater was on the same side as Murphy's
The present site of Hummell Funeral Home used to be Minnimyer's
(spelling?), then the B. F. Goodrich tire sales and repair garage -- the
building sat empty until the Funeral Home built there.
Special acknowledgement to my parents, who both were born in
Washington and who both died in the Washington Hospital:
James Frances Florian and Marcella Jean McGary Florian.
Special acknowledgement to my genealogy teacher,
co-researcher,
my grandmother Ruth Lane McGary
(deceased).
Special acknowledgement to my co-researcher, co-author,
and co-trouble-maker, my sister Cathy
Caldwell (deceased).
Site History and Updates: Dec '05; Jan '05; Mar
'06
Email
Washington.Co.PA.Webmaster
(c) Judith Ann Florian
159 E. Main St.
Girard, Ohio 44420
Copyright Notice - Data / info. for individuals and surnames may be
reproduced for personal family histories only, but not for any commercial use or
sale. Please give credit to Judith Florian and Catherine L. Caldwell for
locating newspaper items and original documents. You may use J. Florian's
research conclusions if credit is given. No other data or images may be
reproduced without permission. © 2005-present, Judith Florian, Copyright All
rights reserved.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 23:02
|
|
The background was chosen specifically to
emphasize the matriarchal role of women in "the life" of
children and families, and the resilience of all the women of
southwestern Pennsylvania. |
| 
