“A New Hospital for
August 31, 2005 by
I recently came across an old “Program of Dedication” for “
We all take for granted our local hospital, but I remember a time when we didn’t have a local hospital.
The idea for a local hospital in Carroll was first discussed after the First World War. It was not until the 1950s, that the idea of raising money to build
I asked Mr. and Mrs. Babylon about what they remember about the community coming together to build the hospital. Mrs. Babylon gave me an old file from the 1950s marked “Hospital.”
There were a number of wonderful “finds” in the file. One “find” was a very neat, carefully typed multi-page information packet entitled, “An Invitation To David Babylon To Help Provide The Hospital We All Need” from “Scott S. Bair Campaign Committee… Headquarters…
In this column, I’ll share with you some of excerpts from this campaign package. It gives us great insights of Carroll in the 1950s. Eight pages outline: “Everyone in
“We need the hospital because of population growth. Our present population is close to the fifty thousand mark! Conservative estimates predict that… by 1970 it will be at least 62,000. According to United States Public Health Department standards a population of 50,000 needs 225 hospital beds. WE HAVE NONE!”
Our current population is 160,000.
“We need a hospital in
I was born in
“We need a hospital because… In
“To meet this urgent need and after careful study a fifty-bed general hospital is proposed as the first step…twenty-five beds for surgery. Twenty-five beds for maternity and medical cases. An emergency service department. Operating, Delivery, X-Ray…
“What will this cost? The first step – the fifty bed unit can be built for approximately one million dollars. It can be built for this relatively modest amount because: the site has been provided by the county without cost to the hospital…”
“Where will the money come from? From the
Clip this column for reference because in the future I’ll gather some of the current statistics of the
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