The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 20, 1906

Fort Dodge’s Chief Need is Hospital

Present Institution for Caring for Sick is Badly Over-crowded

This City Should Be Active

A Large Territory in This Part of the State Would Contribute Cases if a Proper Hospital Were Conducted Here – Many Reasons Urge It.

It may surprise some people of Fort Dodge to know that for the past month the Fort Dodge General Hospital has been overcrowded and that the management has even been compelled ot refuse admittance to at least a dozen patients.

Fort Dodge is fast becoming the medical and surgical center for a territory of fifty miles in all directions, and the time has arrived when the people of this city must cast about for ways and means to provide a suitable hospital to supply the needs of the unfortunate sick of so vast an area.

The present building is fairly good, so far as it goes, and the services rendered are excellent in so far as the management is not hampered by lack of room and other necessary facilities. It will be remembered that nine months ago the proprietors were forced to abandon the old Grant residence for the larger and better fitted Poyer building Since then their patronage has increased to such an extent it seems imperative, not only from the standpoint of humanity, but from a purely commercial point of view, that larger and better equipped quarters be provided for the sick of Fort Dodge and its contributory territory.

It is urged that hospitals do not pay. It is true that most secular and civic hospitals do not. Investigation has shown, however, that the great majority of Sisters’ hospitals do pay, for the reason that the nurses are not paid and very little outside help is hired.

How much money would a hospital of fifty bed, if four-fifths full, put into circulation in Fort Dodge every day? There are very few, if any, single commercial institutions in the city that would circulate more.

From actual experience it is estimated that of forty patients in a hospital thirty are likely to be from out of town and twenty-five of these likely to be surgical cases. The expense, including doctors’ and hospital fees, hotel bills of relatives and friends, shopping expenditures in town, etc., incurred by each patient is figured at $15 a day (about $359 today). Thirty patients at $15 a day would leave $450 a day ($10,777) in Fort Dodge. Aside from the actual financial gain to Fort Dodge, such an institution would do more if properly advertised, to spread the name and fame of this city than any other single enterprise we have.

During the recent meeting of the Fort Dodge District Medical Society in this city, Dr. Margin of Pomeroy said to a Messenger representative: “It is a source of great wonder to me that Fort Dodge is not better equipped as to a hospital. There is no question but that fort Dodge physicians and surgeons are well able to take care of anything that may come to them and in my mind it is only a question of a short time when practically all the surgery in this part of the state will be done right here in Fort Dodge. But that time will never come until a big modern hospital is built. At present, all of my hospital cases go to Sioux City, but they would come here if you had the hospital I speak of.”

Drs. Taylor of Pomeroy, Mullarky of Manson, Belt and McManus of Gilmore City, Arent and Grigsby of Humboldt, and a score of others expressed the same views.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Feb. 9, 1906

Old Man Dying in Dirt and Squalor

Pitiable Case Called to Attention of the Police Last Night.

Man is Ill With Pneumonia

Lies Gasping for Breath in Miserable Room Right on Central Avenue – Not Room for Him at Hospital – County Takes Up Case.

One of the most pitiable cases on record of the winter was brought to the attention of the police last night, by parties employed in the Peschau cigar store, w ho reported that an old man homeless and friendless lay deathly sick with pneumonia in a narrow room over the cigar establishment. Chief Tullar visited him and found the report all too true. An attempt was made to do something for him last night, but it was learned that the hospital was full, and as it was late when the case was discovered, it proved impossible to remove him to any other place. An officer was detailed to go up to the room every few hours to keep a fire burning and render whatever aid proved possible.

The case was brought to the attention of the commissioner of the poor and the associated charities this morning and it is probable that the sick man will receive prompt attention.

A Messenger reporter visited the place this morning and learned that the name of the sick man was Jean Lockwood. He is a veteran of the civil war and is a man about sixty years of age. He was unable to talk, but lay gasping for breath, which the inexorable hand of pneumonia strove to hold from him, on a hard bed in one corner of the miserable room. Broken panes of glass, poorly patched with boards and stuffed with clothing failed to keep the bitter air from sifting into the room, and a rusty stove burned at the bedside. August Hassher, a laboring man who resides at the place, has been the only attendant of Lockwood during the three weeks that he has been sick until yesterday when a physician was called. He states that Lockwood has lived here for about two years during which he has supported himself by doing odd jobs about town. When he was taken sick, Hassher out of pity allowed him to stay at his place.

The case is an example which it is to be hoped will not soon be found again in Fort Dodge. It illustrates plainly the need of an institution in the city for the care of such unfortunates.  The hospital, the only place where such can be taken, is at present almost daily overcrowded. An institution of the proper kind would undoubtedly find itself plentifully supplied with work.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 29, 1903

Kidney Removed by Operation

Remarkable Surgery Performed in Fort Dodge Short Time Ago.

Patient is Past All Danger

Operation was by Fort Dodge Surgeon – Health is Returning.

These apparently are the days of difficult surgery and delicate operations and the newspapers of the country are full of news dispatches telling of some very difficult feats of surgery that have been successful and those who have undergone the operation are alive and enjoying as good health as  though they had never been under the doctor’s knife.

An operation was performed in Fort Dodge a short time ago that takes its place with the foremost. By it one kidney was removed from the body of Mrs. Wm. Fickas and today, about three weeks after the operation, she is able to be up and about and is rapidly gaining health.

The operation was performed by Dr. Farrell and is the only one ever performed in the city, by which such a delicate organism as the kidney is removed and left the patient in as good condition as she was previous to the time the part was afflicted. Mrs. Fickas is the wife of a conductor running out of Fort Dodge.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 3, 1903

Short Messages

Mr. and Mrs. W. Kopp are the proud parents of a baby girl.

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L.S. Braunstein made a business trip to Duncombe Wednesday.

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Arthur Lungren is confined to his home by an attack of la grippe.

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Miss Florence Parsons is clerking in the Gates Dry Goods store for a short time.

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Miss Margaret Mahoney is on the sick list today and not able to be at work.

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Fire Marshal J.W. Lowrey is recuperating from his recent illness in Colfax.

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Miss Harriet Major has left Fort Dodge for Decatur, Illinois, where she will make her future home.

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Mrs. John Steinbrink has returned to her home in Manson after undergoing a successful operation at the city hospital.

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John Hein of Chicago, is making a few day’s visit in this city.

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Mrs. C.D. Case entertained Wednesday evening in honor of her brother, Walter Anderson, who is visiting in this city.

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Mr. Early’s Methodist Sunday school class will hold a handkerchief bazaar in the east window of the Early Music house during the next ten days.

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P.A. Carson who has been at the city hospital during the past two weeks because of appendicitis has recovered. Mr. Carson’s home is on Round Prairie Hill.

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Dr. T.E. Devereaux left today for the Black Hills where he has interest in a mine. During his absence, his brother, Dr. C.H. Devereaux of Humboldt will attend to his office.

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Green B. Morse the famous race man with eighteen of his horses and seventeen men passed thru the city Tuesday night enroute from San Francisco (to) Gravesend, New York.

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Mrs. C.D. Case entertained Wednesday evening in honor of her brother, Walter Anderson who is visiting in this city. Miss Cromwell of Kansas City has gone to Humboldt for a visit at the Dr. McCreight home.

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The new carpet cleaning wheel at the Sherman laundry has been put up and is in operation. This system of cleaning is an innovation in the city, and it is promised that it will far exceed the old broom stick method.

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Wednesday at 3 o’clock, Henry Hale and Miss Katie Harbach, both of Kalo were married at the home of Emory Smith in this city. Only relatives were present at the ceremony which was performed by Rev. McIntire of the Christian Church.

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Three drunks were docketed at the police court this morning. All plead guilty and were given the usual $7.10. None of the prisoners having the wherewithal and this being their first offense they were dismissed. Their names were: John Seburg, Henry Adams and Frank Myers.

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The first of the three classes at the German Lutheran school received examinations this morning, which if passed, will signify the completion of work in the German school. The second class will receive its examination on Friday morning. Those of the highest class who have completed their required work will be confirmed on Easter Sunday.

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A good sized delegation of Webster County people came up to attend the performance of “The Chaperons,” at the Midland on Wednesday evening. Among the party were the following:

George C. Tucker, city editor of the Freeman-Tribune, and wife.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 2, 1903

Juel Johnson in Sad Plight

Miner, Paralyzed by Accident, Cannot Live Much Longer

He was Injured in January.

Since That Time Has Lain, Perfectly Helpless, on Cot in City Hospital.

Juel Johnson, the miner who last January had one of the processes of his spinal column crushed in a mine accident at the Pleasant Valley mine, is still alive, but there is little hope for his recovery at Thrombosis or the clotting of a vein has set in and it will be impossible for him to survive. If it had not been for this Mr. Johnson might have lived several years.

Mr. Johnson’s injury was an unusually serious one. While he was at work on the mine a large mass of coal fell on him and knocked him down. Johnson was picked up helpless, and on examination it was found that one of the processes of the spinal column had been crushed and that the ragged edges of the bone almost severed the spinal cord, thereby affecting the nervous system and causing complete paralysis.

Mr. Johnson is a prominent member of the Miner’s Union which has been looking after him. He is at the city  hospital, where he is being given every comfort.

Other articles:

Is Paralyzed From Waist Down

His Case is a Peculiar One

The Fort Dodge Messenger: March 9, 1903

Crawled into Furnace in Search of Warmth

None but a Webster City Man Could Think of Such a Unique Performance as This.

Webster City, March 9 – A fellow by the name of Murphy, an employe (sic) at the new Mercy Hospital building recently crawled into the hospital furnace to get warm while drunk and narrowly escaped serious injuries.

Murphy had been working thru the day with the regular hospital gang. At the close of the day’s work he filled up with liquor and instead of returning to his boarding place, went back to the hospital building. The furnace had been fired  up during the day but had been allowed to go down at night. The room and become chilly and Murphy was cold. Looking about in a drunken stupor for a warm place he came to the furnace. He opened the door of the fire box and crawled in. The fire had died down and Murphy lay on the smouldering (sic) ashes some time before he was badly enough burned to realize that his position was dangerous. He succeeded in making his exit and was found next morning by his companions when they went to work. He was lying in a corner covered from head to foot with ashes and his clothing partly burned off him. The whole of one side of his body is quite badly burned but the fellow sustained no serious injuries.

(Editor’s note: I think the drophead about only a Webster City man could think of something like this is indicative of a rivalry between Fort Dodge and Webster City. No current disrespect is intended.)

The Fort Dodge Messenger: March 7, 1906

Move Started for Modern Hospital

Subscription List is to be Circulated Through the City

Knights of Columbus in Move

Physicians Agitate the Project – Planned to Have Sisters in Charge – Board of Trustees to Care for Funds to be Selected

A move has recently been started by a crowd of Fort Dodge physicians which is backed by the Knights of Columbus and the people of the city in general, by which it is hoped to push through to a final end the much talked project of a modern hospital for the city.

A subscription list has already been formed which it is planned to circulate through the entire city for the purpose of raising funds, and the work will probably be started at once. A committee headed by Mayor Bennett and consisting of other prominent men of the city is being formed for the purpose of receiving the proceeds, which are to be expended on the recommendations of the committee, the Fort Dodge doctors and the Knights of Columbus. In case the hospital is built it is planned to place it in charge of the Sisters of Mercy.

Fort Dodge has long needed a large modern hospital, and in view of the size of the city and the excellent reputation of Fort Dodge’s medical men through the state it is fast becoming a crying need. The present move will no doubt meet with the approval and encouragement of the entire city. The cost and size of the hospital will depend on the success that is met in soliciting subscriptions for the purpose.