Gift of X-Ray Unit
Mr. and Mrs. William S. Carter of Lebanon are the donors of a fund for the construction and equipment of a complete X-ray unit for the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover. The trustees of the hospital have voted to accept the gift and have authorized the completion of tentative plans which have been approved by the donors. The cost of the building and equipment is estimated at approximately $40,000. Construction will begin in the spring, as soon as weather conditions permit, with the expectation that the completed unit will be ready for occupancy by September 1. The new unit is being designed by J. Fredrick Larson, architect, in consultation with a committee representing the professional staff and the board of trustee, with the assistance of Dr. L. K. Sycamore of the Massachusetts General Hospital. The plans contemplate the erection of a two-story building to replace the smaller one-story structure which contains the present X-ray room and connects the operating wing with the men's ward.
The main floor of the addition will provide ample floor space for the X-ray Department and auxiliary services, with an outside entrance and a central corridor giving access to the wards, offices, service departments and operating rooms. The main entrance will open into a reception room, which is connected with a group of dressing rooms and a physiotherapy laboratory. An adjoining room will provide for a staff office. On the opposite side of the main corridor there will be a room for radiographic and fluoroscopic work, a leadlined lined room for deep therapy, a developing room and other accessories of a complete Xray laboratory. Power apparatus will be housed in an adjoining control room and in the basement below the laboratory. The second floor of the building will afford floor space for additional facilities in connection with proposed future additions to the hospital plant.
The new unit will be equipped for all branches of X-ray work and treatments. Apparatus will include a 140,000-volt transformer for radiography and fluoroscopy; and 200,000-volt deep therapy and diagnostic apparatus; and other equipment to complete facilities for giving a wide range of service under conditions of maximum convenience and economy of space.
Dr. Lesley K. Sycamore, a graduate of Dartmouth in 1924 and of the Harvard Medical School in 1927, has been appointed to the professional staff as Roentgenologist, in charge of the X-ray Department, his appointment to become effective on September 1 of this year. He has served for several months as Assistant Roentgenologist on the staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital.
As donors of the Carter Community Building in Lebanon, Mr. and Mrs. Carter have long been known for their public-spirited benefactions. Their generous gift to the hospital is particularly timely, for it provides the first unit of a building program for the development of facilities to meet the demands for service to rapidly growing numbers of patients. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1929, the hospital gave over 28,000 days' service to nearly 2000 in-patients. Of this number, 1079 patients were admitted from 67 town and villages in New Hampshire, 783 from 60 Vermont towns and villages, 49 from other states and five from Canada. These figures do not include over 4000 days' service to 955 Dartmouth students and other patients in Dick Hall's House, maintained and operated by the college in conjunction with the hospital.
With the continued growth of the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital as a medical and surgical center for a wide area of rural and urban communities, the need for a substantial enlargement of facilities has become increasingly urgent. According to the last annual report of the trustees, studies have been made by a joint committee of the corporation and trustees of plans for proposed future additions to the plant and equipment. The tentative plans call for alterations and new construction to provide a 50-bed unit to accommodate patients in open wards, private rooms, and a ward for contagious cases; a new wing to contain a children's ward, laboratories and operating rooms; and a separate building for laundry and heating plant. These additions will be made as funds become available.
Since the facilities of the hospital are used for Dick's House patients this gift is a valuable one from the College point of view.
