THE DIRT ROAD WONDER

Long ago medical care

Gwynn Peacock Kidd

I remember going to Moody Hospital in 1946 to visit Daddy. He was sick for a long time and we would go to Dothan and stay with my grandparents to be near him. My uncle and then a nephew would look after the store for us while we were gone.

The most vivid memory I have of that hospital was the overpowering smell that hit you when you walked in. Mama explained it was an antiseptic cleaner used to kill germs in the hospital. Didn’t smell clean to me, just the opposite.

The next thing that impressed me were the nurses all in their starched white uniforms with white stockings and shoes and caps. Some of them had blue capes they wore instead of sweaters. I wonder how many little girls wanted to be just like them when they grew up.

I was a curious child and I began to notice that the caps were of all different shapes and sizes. I asked a nurse one day why this was and she explained it to me. The nurses caps signified what school of nursing they had graduated from. That is another custom that has bit the dust.

Another thing that was different back then was that some rooms had three or four patients in them. I only remember one patient having a private room and that was because he was screaming all the time. He had come back from WWII with something called shell shock and thought he was still in a German POW prison.

The rooms weren’t sterile looking like they are now. Daddy’s room had very pretty drapes at the windows just like at home.

If you went to the hospital back then, you were either really, really sick or needed an operation. Some hospitals had signs out on the street that said it was a hospital zone and please be quiet. Haven’ t seen one of those in years.

There was no health insurance back then. You paid your own bill. I remember families would gather away from the patient and discuss how much each one could pay toward the hospital bill to keep the patient from worrying about it.

Hospital bills were much lower back then. My son was born at the Gadsden Hospital in Quincy. I stayed in the hospital for three days and my bill was $103. The doctor’s bill was $100.00 to look after me for eight months and deliver the baby. That was when the dollar was worth a lot more. I remember buying hamburger meat at three pounds for a dollar that year.

Now let’s talk about the ambulance service in Gadsden County or lack thereof. If you were in a wreck and needed to be taken to the hospital you were put in the back of Butler and Morgan Funeral Home hearse and driven to the hospital. That was the only thing they had that was big enough for a bed. Imagine waking up in the back of a hearse and wondering if you were dead.

Now for a little humor: What did one DNA say to the other DNA? Do these genes make me look fat?

‘Till next time keep on the sunny side.

Contact Gwynn Peacock Kidd at gwynnkidd@gmail.com.

THE DIRT ROAD WONDER

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Blueberry farms open for the season hosting large crowds of customers

Chattahoochee Main Street hosts successful River Runaround 5K and Fun Run

Chattahoochee Main Street hosts successful River Runaround 5K and Fun Run

Recommended

Amya Burns is Gadsden Elementary Magnet’s Class of 2023 valedictorian

Community explores past, present and future of shade tobacco

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Category

Site Links

About Us

Welcome Back!

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