The Delaware County Memorial Hospital shortly after the hospital opened in 1927.
NOTE: Many hospitals have changed in the past 10 years with what services they provide and don't provide. an article in this weeks Delco Times highlighted the problems and did a history of Delaware County Hospital. Below is when the hospital opened.
CHESTER TIMES – JUNE 27, 1927
STATE OFFICIALS AT DEDICATION OF NEW HOSPITAL
Lieutenant Governor James Accepts Upper Darby Institution
Lieutenant-Governor Arthur H. James
officially accepted, on behalf of the citizens of this county and state, from
Dr. Thomas Conway, Jr., the recently completed Delaware County Hospital at
Lansdowne Avenue near Garrett Road, Upper Darby.
More than 2,000 persons, including
many county and state officials, were in attendance to participate in the
ceremonies. An inspection of the
hospital followed the ceremonies.
A group of airplanes from the
Philadelphia Navy Yard dropped thousands of roses grown in this county upon the
group.
A thousand voices, the Delaware county
Chorus, under the direction of Miss Esther Caudill, sang “Faith of our Fathers,
Living Still,” at the same moment when the roses began showering the group.
Dr. Conway, in his presentation address,
explained that the Delaware County Hospital was equipped with every device
known today for the furtherance of medical science and the alleviation of
suffering.
“The initial plans, and the inception
of the idea for this institution were formulate by a group of professional men
of this community when they met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Simmons of
Drexel Hill, during the early part of February, 1925,” said Dr. Conway. “The charter for the institution was granted
by the late Judge Isaac Johnson on April 17, 1925, and the completion of the
structure has been made possible through theretofore unknown cooperative
community aid. Approximately 8000
individual men and women from all sections of Eastern Delaware County
participated as donors to this cause, and the total of these donations amounted
to $236,435, and the hospital as it now stands including equipment has a value
of $325,000.
“It is a matter of great gratification
to the board of trustees that the institution has been made possible by such community
spirit and cooperation, and the directors have attempted to employ such
foresight in the actual construction of the buildings that at any time
additions may be made with the minimum amount of inconvenience. The equipment is of a nature that the most
delicate and complicated case can be taken care of with the greatest
efficiency, and we are unusually fortunate in having attracted, and acquired, a
staff of physicians that are nationally known and recognized for their
proficiency by medical and surgical science.
Dr. Conway in concluding his
presentation remarks stated that those directing the affairs of this hospital
kept always inn mind the fact that they desired first of all a modern building,
then complete and modern technical apparatus, and a staff of physicians that
were not only capable but also specialists in their particular endeavors.
Lieutenant Governor Juineg, in his
address of acceptance, stated that he not only accepted that institution on
behalf of the residents of Delaware County, but also for the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania as a whole.
“We, the executives of Pennsylvania,
did not in former years recognize the hospitals of the state, but today we are
giving more than $20,000,000 annually to institutions of this nature throughout
the state,” he stated. “This does not
mean that you are to stop taking care of yourself, but it means that after all
your resources have been exhausted, and there is no other means of obtaining
the funds necessary to continue the operation of the hospital, we will then
lend our assistance.”
“I can speak for the administration,”
he continued, “when I say that Pennsylvania will not stop for any expense to
carry on the great charitable institution throughout her confines such as the
Delaware County Hospital if the community by concerted efforts is not able to
do this.”
AMBULANCE PRESENTED – Immediately
following the formal presentation and acceptance of the hospital, H. A.
Thomson, commander of the Upper Darby American Legion Post 214, presented to
the institution a modern equipped ambulance.
The apparatus was accepted by Dr. Thomas Conway, Jr., president of the
Board of Directors. The ambulance cost
$3,000.
“Howard M. Savage, National Commander
of the Legion,” Commander Thomson stated, “in outlining the policy of the
Legion for the year urged that each of the 11,000 Posts throughout the country
do some outstanding act that would be of benefit to the community in which they
resided. After deliberating for weeks in
an attempt to decide upon our particular community endeavors we concluded that
we could perform no greater service to this section of Delaware County than by
the supplying to this institution of an ambulance.
Dr. Conway, in his brief remarks of
acceptance, stated, “The decision of these veterans of the World War in
selecting their individual community endeavor has given to this hospital an arm
by which it can reach out, as it were, and gather in from all sections of the
county those suffering from pain and disease.
It is an act that completes the equipment of this institution, and their
efforts will be rewarded in the efficiency with which the hospital can operate
as a result of their community spirit.”
Dr. Theodore B. Apple, State Secretary
of Health, was the next speaker of the program, and he selected as his topic,
“Relations of the State with a Community Hospital.” He congratulated the board of directors for
their foresight in constructing the institution so that additions might be made
at any time, and explained that in all of his travels throughout the state he
has never seen a more modern equipped institution.
Dr. Wilmer B. Krusen, Director of
Health of Philadelphia, gave a brief address following the conclusion of Dr.
Apple’s remarks, and although his words were almost indistinguishable owing to
the roar from the motors of the three planes that circled the hospital at this
time, dropping flowers over the grounds, he was loud in his praises for the
auxiliaries of the hospital that have labored for months in making their donations
to the institution.
Rev. Joseph M. McShain, rector of St.
Andrews Church of Drexel Hill, opened the services with an Invocation, and the
Benediction was given by Rev. Giles Knight of the Protestant Episcopal Church
of the Incarnation, also in Drexel Hill, H. Blair Cooke was chairman of the
Opening Celebration committee, and he also officiated as director of
ceremonies. The hospital closed during
the dedication services was opened to the public immediately afterwards. It will be formally opened for admission of
patients on Friday.
Among those prominent in county
affairs who were in attendance were:
President Judge W. Roger Fronfield and his associates, Judges John M.
Broomall, 3rd and Frank G. Perrin and Senator Albert Dutton MacDade.
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