The Homeopathic Hospital, aftewards General Hospital, now
Castle Rest
The Homeopathic Hospital,
AFTERWARDS gENERAL hOSPITAL, NOW cASTLE rEST
Text Source: Past and Present of
Syracuse and Onondaga County New York, by The Rev. William M.
Beauchamp, S.T.D., 1908, pp. 569-570.
The Homeopathic Hospital was
incorporated December 30, 1895, and January 21, 1896, the first
officers elected were A. C. Chase, president; E. A. Powell and O. D.
Soule, vice-presidents; D. H. Gowing, secretary, and Anthony Lamb,
treasurer. Milton H. Northrup succeeded Mr. Chase as president,
and J. L. Cheney became treasurer. In 1898, E. Elmer Keeler
started the Magazine, the Clinic, in the interests of the hospital, the
monthly afterwards becoming an independent paper.
In 1906-1907 the Homeopathic Hospital building of reinforced concrete
with sand lime brick exterior and litholite trimmings, was erected in
East Castle street, adjoining the old homestead used for hospital
purposes at South State and Castle streets. The Eastern Concrete
Steel Company of Buffalo was the contractor. The floors were laid
with tile and concrete, six inches thick with stairs of the same
construction. The spacious building on the southwest corner of
Seymour and West streets was first used for hospital purposes.
Onondaga
County Medical Society, 1906-1956, The
Onondaga County Medical Society?, Syracuse? 1956, pg. 60. General Hospital was chartered in
1895 and opened in 1896 as the Syracuse Homeopathic Hospital with
fifteen beds in a frame building in South West Street. Over the
years it has been expanded both in size and services - now 153
beds including bassinets and moved to its present location in 1903.
In 1921 the staff was opened to graduates of both schools of medicine
and the name changed to General Hospital of Syracuse.
At the close of 1955, it had served the community for sixty
years. While the records of the early days are incomplete we do
know that from January 1, 1928 to January 1, 1956 we admitted 100,316
patients and 26,411 newborn for a total of 1,151,213 days of hospital
service.
The most recent hospital expansion and remodeling was done in
1943-1943. The School of Nursing was established in 1899.
Both hospital and school are accredited by national and state
organizations.
Onondaga
County Medical Society, 1906-1956, The
Onondaga County Medical Society?, Syracuse? 1956, pg. 69.
Syracuse
General Hospital, School of Nursing
Soon
after the opening of the Syracuse Homeopathic Hospital on January 1,
1897, the executive committee of the staff appointed young ladies as
probationers, some of whom were later appointed student nurses.
Within a few weeks a course of lectures was arranged and systematic
instructions inaugurated.
On March 13, 1899, the Training School for Nurses of the Syracuse
Homeopathic Hospital (later to be called General Hospital of Syracuse)
was incorporated and in June of the same year was approved by the Board
of Regents of the New York State Department of Education.
A total of four students a year could be admitted to the school and no
applicant under 23 years or over 35 years was accepted. After a
satisfactory probationary period of two months, the student signed an
agreement to remain in the school for two years and to obey the rules
of the school. She received eight dollars a month for the first
year and ten dollars a month for the second year.
The hours of duty were from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Each student had one
afternoon off a week for recreation and was expected to take one hour
for out-of-door exercise and change.
Classes given by the staff physicians and the superintendent were held
in the evening and included the following subjects:
Surgery - 8 lectures Anatomy
- 8 lectures Physiology
- 8 lectures Materia
Medica - 2 lectures Nursing
- 2 recitations a week Pediatrics
and Obstetrics - 6 lectures
The question of additional experience for students became a serious
problem and in order to solve the problem, students were sent to homes
to do private duty. Two dollars a day was paid for the student's
services.
From this beginning the school has grown and to date has graduated 593
students.
Students enter in September of each year and the course is three years
in length. They have a total of approximately 1256 hours of
formal classroom instruction, which includes lectures, recitations and
laboratory experience. In addition to classroom instruction, they
receive approximately 106 weeks of clinical experience in Medicine,
Surgery, Obstetrics, Operating Room, Pediatrics, Communicable Diseases,
Psychiatry and Diet Kitchen.
Hours of duty are 40 a week including classes.
In September r1951, a program was inaugurated with University College
of Syracuse University whereby college credit is granted for academic
work completed. Text Source: A
Short History of Hospitals in Syracuse, SUNY
Upstate Medical University: Health Services Library:
Historical
Collections:
http://www.upstate.edu/library/history/hospitals.shtml
Syracuse Homeopathic Hospital, chartered 1895, opened 1896,
incorporated nursing school 1899, changed name to General Hospital of
Syracuse in 1921, 116 East Castle Street. It is now a nursing
home
called Castle Rest. Submitted 12 March 2006 by Pamela
Priest
Updated 17 March 2006 by Pamela Priest
