Friday, August 28, 2009

Beyer's Visiting Nurse Program Once Sent Nurses Right To Your Home

Beyer Memorial Hospital used to have quite an active Visiting Nurse program. According to the hospital's newspaper, the Beyer Banner, in one sample month in 1954 the Visiting Nurses made 375 visits to Ypsilantians, or, a dozen a day. Nurses gave baths to homebound old people, advised new parents on how to prepare for and care for new babies, checked two possible child polio cases, delivered and injected penicillin to children sick at home, counseled a patient scheduled for an operationi, and in general provided an invaluable service to the community.

One wonders why the hospital was able to afford and provide this wonderful mobile service 50 years ago and why it seems like an unimaginable luxury today.

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