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EL DORADO, Ark. (AP) — The Cape.
It had graced the halls of Warner Brown Hospital for years — displayed in its glass case for all to admire. It reminded those who viewed the Navy blue, heavy woolen cape worn by nurses back in the day, of a time when they were required to wear starched white uniforms, white hosiery, white nurses shoes, the cap, and of course, that cape.
After years of being on display, one day some of the long-time nurses realized with horror that the cape was gone. No one had an inkling of what had happened to the cherished heirloom — the cape that had been donated by the father of one of the first nurses to graduate from the Warner Brown School of Nursing.
For years, Carolyn McCurry, who is largely responsible for preserving Warner Brown memorabilia, and Linda Partridge, said they and other nurses searched high and low for that cape. They asked everyone they knew - searched every nook and cranny - to no avail.
Then one day — out of the blue — someone just mentioned that historical cape and Judy Fussell, who had worked in the cafeteria at the hospital for years, overheard the conversation. Much to everyone's surprise and delight, Judy knew where the cape had been for more than two years. It had been taken to a local cleaners by a short-time employee of the hospital, who moved from this area before retrieving the cape from the cleaners.
Sure enough, there it was, hanging on a rack of clothes ready to be picked up. "It cost us $204 to pick up that cape," McCurry laughed, saying that it is now in one of several rooms full of Warner Brown Hospital memorabilia at the old hospital building yet to be unpacked and displayed.
The cape and several other stories were just some of the memories shared during the unveiling of a small portion of the Warner Brown Hospital archives, when the items were presented by Medical Center of South Arkansas officials to the South Arkansas Historical Preservation Society, the El Dorado News-Times reported. Robert Rupp, chief executive officer for MCSA and Patrick Hotard, executive director of the SAHPS, signed papers to officially donate the items from the hospital to the historical society. There are several rooms filled with WBH memorabilia at the old Warner Brown and Hotard said he hopes in the near future a building will be dedicated to displaying historical artifacts and papers about the hospital.
Paul Brown founded the hospital in memory of his father, Warner Brown, and he donated $77,000, with the other half to be raised through popular subscriptions among the citizens of El Dorado and Union County. In 1927, he assumed an additional $68,000 to $70,000 in debts and the hospital was turned over to the Sisters of Mercy, a Catholic order of nuns. The new wing of the hospital, directly adjacent to and attached to the older building, was completed in 1974, and Warner Brown and Union Medical Center, founded in 1964, merged to form the Medical Center of South Arkansas in 1987, according to a news release issued by MCSA.
The last medical offices left the Warner Brown location in 2015, and MCSA donated a collection of archival and manuscript materials to the SAHPS - including a large number of photographs, scrapbooks, employee newsletters, newspaper clippings, documents and building plans. There is also a collection of old medical equipment, such as one of the first cystoscopes and old blood pressure cuffs, in addition to reference books.
"When visionaries want to build for the future, they often look to the past. In dedicating Warner Brown archives, we recognize the vision of Paul Brown and others who were determined to provide quality health care to the citizens of south Arkansas and we continue to build on their vision," Rupp said during a brief welcome to the presentation of the archives.
Hotard said local officials and townspeople of Union County began raising money for Warner Brown Hospital in 1919, which opened in 1920.
McCurry said the Sisters of Mercy from St. Louis, Missouri, took over management of the hospital in 1927.
She said at one time, students from the Warner Brown School of Nursing were affiliated with St. Louis University with the Sisters of Mercy and local students went there for six months of training. "The Sisters of Mercy were progressive, kept up with the latest medical information and were very compassionate. They were very protective of us (nursing students)."
McCurry, who was 16 years old when she began her nursing training, said she remembered when nurses would go to the back loading dock of the hospital to bring 200-pound oxygen tanks to patient rooms. She also remembers one of the first blood transfer machines at the hospital - acquired from troops after World War I. She said at that time — there was often no time to cross-match blood — a donor would lay in a bed while his blood was directly infused into the patient lying in an adjoining bed.
She also recalled when the hospital was first able to set up intensive care rooms, private rooms were $35 a day and ward beds were $15 a day. Other patient rooms in the hospital cost $2.50 a day. McCurry also remembered a time when patients paid their bills with turnip greens from their gardens and chickens.
A registered nurse who still works at MCSA and attended the archival presentation, Kay Plunkett, a native of Scotland, said she and her husband were the last couple to be married in the chapel at Warner Brown Hospital, on June 6, 1980.
A new campaign to add on to Warner Brown began in the 1970s, with general co-chairmen Col. T.H. Barton and C.H. Murphy Jr.
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Information from: El Dorado News-Times, http://www.eldoradonews.com
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