B6
History
Blue Mountain Eagle
HOSPITAL
Continued from Page B1
on vacation,” Lewis said.
She said she would have
stayed several days at the hos-
pital, but her aunt and uncle
from Washington picked her up
and brought her home.
Lewis waited until her hus-
band, Gerald, returned home
from logging before naming
their third child, who was also
their third girl.
“We looked at that beautiful
baby,” Jessie said. “Her name
was going to be Melody, and
I said she doesn’t look like a
Melody.”
Lewis’ friend Kathy Ham-
mack, who was also a Canyon
City resident back then, gave
birth to a baby boy at the same
hospital the day before Holly
was born.
Jessie said she enjoyed the
hospital in Prairie City.
“It was the neatest thing we
had in our community,” she
said, adding she was happy to
see how the new hospital in
John Day was organized as well.
Train signals
for doctor
When Dr. Virgil Belknap
practiced in Prairie City, about
1913 to 1921, it is said that if
there was an injured logger,
the whistle would sound using
the doctor’s three-digit phone
number as a signal as the train
crested Dixie Summit. When
that happened, the train would
pick Belknap up and take him
back to the site of the injured
worker.
Records
highlighting
hospital
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
(Written in 1946)
• 1913: Dr. Virgil Belknap
and Dr. J.H. Fell, his brother-in-
law opened a hospital of five-
bed capacity, serving general
and surgical cases. A two-sto-
ry farm building on the south
side of the city known as the
Bill Taylor home or Fisk Farm
Home.
• 1916: Belknap and Fell
continued their practice, mov-
ing equipment to the second
floor west wing of the present
Hotel Prairie, with eight beds
and one surgical room. The
move was directed by Miss
Elizabeth Cummings, a grad-
uate of Chicago Poly Clinic
Hospital, who rented the space
and operated it under her own
management and as supervi-
sor.
• 1918: With increasing de-
mand for hotel space, the doc-
tors moved the hospital across
the street to the second floors
This wheelchair, on display
at the DeWitt Museum, was
used at the first hospital in
Prairie City in 1921.
of the Masonic building. Cum-
mings continued operation and
supervision of the hospital.
The new location offered an
increase from eight to 11 beds
and required the additional ser-
vices of one registered nurse
and one helper to the staff.
• 1921: It was decided to
have the city purchase, from
the Board of Education, the
abandoned school building.
This was rented to Belknap
and Fell for $50 a month and
named Grant County Hospital.
Cummings retired and left the
city. Both doctors sold their
interest to Dr. Lawson, who
operated it for a few years and
then sold his interest to Dr.
Hugh Brown. Brown sold his
interest to Dr. Hugh Fate.
• 1936: Cummings, now
Mrs. Morrow, former superin-
tendent and operator, returned
and accepted superintendency
of the hospital.
• June 1938: Dr. Fate sold
his interest in the hospital to
the city and went east to study.
• January 1940: The hos-
pital, now with 13 beds, was
leased by the city to Alex
Repp, a male nurse, who op-
erated it.
• March 1940: Hospital was
closed for cleaning and repairs.
• March 19, 1940: Opened
under management of the city
and supervised by Elizabeth
Morrow and assisted by Izeta
Walker.
• May 1940: Building of
the new hospital as it appears
today (1946) was begun in the
rear of the school home on
present site.
• Sept. 14-15, 1940: New
hospital opened with 17 beds
and nine nurses with Drs. Ger-
old and Martha van der Vlugt.
• September 1945: Hospital
taken over by Prairie City and
put under supervision of Mrs.
Viola King who was paid a sal-
ary by the city. She remained
in charge until August 1946.
• September 1946: Mrs.
Jones took over for one month
until the arrival of Glenn How-
ell who was given complete ad-
ministration of the institution.
Courtesy of Blue Mountain
Hospital, John Day.
Prairie City hospital to close
April 25, 1957
Blue Mountain Eagle
A special tax levy in the
amount of $41,555.91, believed
by the Blue Mountain hospital
district directors and the budget
committee to be necessary for
the continued operation of the
Blue Mountain general hospi-
tal, was disapproved by the dis-
trict’s voters in a special elec-
tion Saturday, with 695 votes
cast against the levy and 440
votes favoring it.
In view of the rejection of
the special levy in excess of the
six per cent limitation, and in
consideration of the present fi-
nancial condition of the district,
the directors have decided that
the hospital must discontinue
operations. As stated in a let-
ter to Grant County residents
quoted below, no patients will
be admitted to the hospital in
Prairie City after April 30.
While the amount of the
budget within the six per cent
limitation, $31,044.09, has
been levied for the coming
year, a large part of that amount
will be required to pay the pres-
ent indebtedness of the district.
At the present time the district
owes $11,000 borrowed from
the Grant County bank, about
$12,800 in other debts, and will
have a payroll in the neighbor-
hood of $5,000 to meet at the
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end of this month. These items
total $28,800. All is not as dark
as this figure would indicate,
however, for the district has on
hand about $3,000 in cash and
due accounts receivable total
about $19,000.
Financial difficulties of the
hospital have been attributed to
a number of causes by differ-
ent people, but the basic cause
is the lack of utilization of the
hospital’s facilities. Average
patient occupancy during April
has been only four, and for
many months it has been less
than nine.
Following is the statement
from the hospital board, issued
after a series of meetings Mon-
day evening and Tuesday:
“To the People of Grant
County:
“Last Saturday the voters
disapproved the special levy
needed to finance the Blue
Mountain general hospital in
Prairie City through the next
year. This means that there will
not be enough money available
to continue to operate the hos-
pital in Prairie City.
“Accordingly, the hospital
at Prairie City will not admit
any patients after April 30.
“The directors of Blue
Mountain hospital district are
going forward with an inten-
sive study to determine what
type and location of facility is
needed to provide the people of
Grant County with satisfactory
hospital facilities.
“It is estimated that this
planning will take from 30 to
60 days. During this period of
time, under an arrangement
made with Drs. Gerold and
Martha van der Vlugt, patients
of any medical doctor may be
admitted for treatment in the
John Day general hospital. This
arrangement will continue until
such a time as the voters ap-
prove or disapprove a different
hospital service than has been
furnished in the past.
“As your hospital board, we
sincerely regret the necessity of
closing the existing facility and
solicit your cooperation and
assistance. We hope to have a
satisfactory alternative propo-
sition for your consideration in
the not too distant future.
“Respectfully yours,
“Directors of Blue Moun-
tain Hospital District”
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Blue Mountain
General Hospital to
hold open house
July 18, 1947
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Blue Mountain
General hospital at Prai-
rie City will hold an open
house for the general pub-
lic, Friday, July 18, from 2
p.m. to 5 p.m.
Refreshments will be
served to all attending, and
everyone is cordially invit-
ed to attend and inspect the
hospital and the many im-
provements that have been
added recently to the hos-
pital.
A special program will
be held for mothers and pro-
spective mothers, featuring
Walt Disney’s Technicolor
film, “Bathing Time For
Baby.”
In the evening there will
be a banquet at the city hall
served by the Junior Wom-
en’s club.
Due to the limited
amount of space the ban-
quet has been confined to
invitation only. C. W. Reyn-
olds, manager of the Cor-
vallis General hospital and
president of the Oregon As-
sociation of Hospitals, will
be the principal speaker.
V. C. Belknap, who prac-
ticed for many years in the
John Day valley, will be
present at the open house
celebration.
Dr. Belknap is very well
known all over Eastern Ore-
gon and for the past several
years has resided at Nampa,
Idaho. Dr. Fred Hunter, now
with the Portland Sanitari-
um, also plans to be present
for the occasion.
Both Dr. Belknap and
Dr. Hunter have been ap-
pointed Honorary Members
of the medical staff of the
Blue Mountain Hospital,
along with Dr. C. J. Bart-
lett of Baker and Dr. D.
J. Lawson of Mt. Vernon,
Washington.
At this time it is not cer-
tain if Dr. Bartlett and Dr.
Lawson will be present.
The Honorary appoint-
ments were made by the City
of Prairie City on July 14.
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From Feb. 8, 1952: Signs marking the change of
highway 28 to U.S. 26 were completed through
Grant County Thursday. Holding the new marker is
P. N. Shown (left), John Day Chamber of Commerce
highway committee man, and Dan E. Scott,
president of the Oregon Highway 26 association.
Irving Hazeltine, highway association and chamber
of commerce secretary, watches proceedings. Pole
climber is a state sign crewman.
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