US Naval Hospital Corps School - Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

Page 24 text:

U. S. NAVAL HOSPITAL, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA MISSION The primary mission of this Hospital is to provide general clinical, hospitalization and dental services to military per- sonnel of shore activities and fleet units with the object of their expeditious return to duty and the prompt disposition of those patients who require special treatment not satis- factorily available or who are found physically unfit for re- tention in the military service. The secondary mission of this hospital includes the in- struction of Medical Department personnel, including intern and resident training, the care and treatment of authorized nonmilitary patients, research in authorized medical and related projects, and cooperation with military and civil authorities in matters pertaining to health and sanitation and in the event of local disasters or emergencies. HISTORY On 20 May 1958, the Hospital completed its thirty-ninth year of rendering aid to military personnel and their de- pendents. Today, this institution stands as a monument to the progress of the Navy and is a picturesque landmark in the State of California. A historical account of the present hospital would not be complete without a brief statement of facts of its founders and forerunners. Returning from Mexican waters in the Summer of 1914, the Fourth Regiment of the U. S. Marine Corps landed and established a base on North Island and in so doing gave being to the San Diego area as a great naval center. Lieutenant Commander U. R. Webb, who 17 years later became Medical Officer in Command of the Hospital, was the Senior Medical Officer attached to the Fourth Regi- ment. During the latter half of 1914, the Fourth Regiment, .along with its field hospital, was moved to Balboa Park as an exhibit in the Panama-California Exposition and remained there until the exposition closed in the Spring of 1917. With the advent of World War I, officials of the City of San Diego and the Navy Department realized the opportuni- ties afforded by the Balboa Park Exposition Grounds for use as a naval training center and on 20 May 1917, the Center was officially established. The medical segment of the Naval Training Center was housed in the Headquarters Building of the Park Police. This building, then named the '4War Dispensaryf' provided space for the medical administrative unit and two wards of 25 beds each. As the training center grew, the War Dis- pensary expanded so rapidly that tent camps had to be set up to accommodate the sick and injured personnel. By the end of the war the tent city,' had reached an 800 patient capacity. Commander Ammen Farenholt, who later retired in the rank of Rear Admiral, was the first senior Medical Officer of the War Dispensary. It was through Admiral Farenholt's hobby of collecting war relics that various familiar land- marks located at the hospital today were acquired. Two naval cannons used by the U. S. Marines during the Mexican War, SICK CALL: War Dispensary, Tent City, 1917

Page 23 text:

in troop air transports, on hospital and sea transport ships, and in all shore-based hospitals. The Dental Corps was established in 1912, and dental offi- cers served with distinction in both world Wars and in Korea. Over 7,000 were in service during World War II. In 1945 an organizational change in the Bureau assigned to dental offi- cers the technical control of dental activities' ashore and afloat. The Medical Service Corps was established in 1947, giving commissioned rank to administrative specialists and men trained in such fields as pharmacy, optometry, psychology, bacteriology, and other sciences related to medicine. 'Officers of the Medical Service Corps, with ranks up to and including Captain, have been of immeasurable assistance to medical and dental officers by absorbing much of the administrative workload and serving as specialists in various sciences. During the present century, training and technical educa- tion have expanded continuously, in step with growing specialization, increasing complexity of the medical sciences, and enlarging scope of Medical Department operation. In 1902 there was established, in addition to the Naval Medical School, the first school for training hospital corpsmen. This X N was at Norfolk, Virginia, other schools were established later at Great Lakes, Illinois, Bainbridge, Maryland, and San Diego, California. In 1922, the Naval Dental School was inaugurated for postgraduate training of dental officers. In 1939, the Naval School of Aviation Medicine was set up at Pensacola, Florida, in 1942 the Naval School of Hospital Administration was started at Bethesda, Maryland, and in 1951 Field Medical Service Schools were commissioned at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune. The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery observed its 116th anniversary on 31 August 1958. It is the only Navy bureau still retaining its original name as established by Congress in 1842, but only since 1942 has it occupied the present 'quarters in the group of buildings around the old Naval Observatory. Its more recent accomplishments, and those of the devoted officers and men who constitute the Medical Department of the United States Navy, have been so many and varied that they cannot even be mentioned in this short historical sketch. Suffice it to say that naval medicine has made tremendous progress since 1775, and that in recent years this progress has been accelerated enormously. Today, the quality of professional care furnished to Navy and Marine Corps personnel is outstanding and second to none. MODERN SURGERY

Page 25 text:

a sundial and plaques at the main gate, lower gate and above the entrance of the Administration Building were donated by the Admiral. During the course of World War I, Navy Officials realized that San Diego would be an ideal location for a permanent air station, Marine Corps base, naval training station and a naval hospital large enough in size and facilities to serve the military personnel. On 20 May 1919, the Secretary of the Navy changed the title of the War Dispensary to the desig- nation of Naval Hospital and ordered plans for the con- struction of a permanent hospital. Inspiration Point was offered the Navy by San Diego for the hospital site. It was a tract of land worthy of the name Inspiration Point, for it comprises a hilltop of 92.66 acres and offers a beautiful view of Balboa Park and picturesque San Diego Bay. The contract for the construction of the first buildings was drawn in October 1920. It called for a central administration building flanked by three wards on each side. Rear Admiral Edward R. Stitt, Surgeon General of the Navy, was responsible for the early planning of the hospital. The street running in front of the three original buildings was named Stitt Avenue in honor of the man who had so much to do with the structural planning. The con- struction also included four other buildings, among them the Surgical Suite and Mess Hall. The hospital was built at a cost of 31,103,321. The work was accomplished and the establishment placed in commission on 22 August 1922. The equipment from the War Dispensary was moved to the present Hospital location. Captain F. W. F. Weiber, second commanding officer of the hospital, then instituted the landscaping of the grounds. William H. Crofts, an English ORIGINAL MEDICAL DISPENSARY, 1917 gardener who had established a reputation as a master gar- dener during 10 years' service on the estate of the Duke of Norfolk in Sheffield, England, and who had 10 years' experi- ence in America, was hired as Head Gardener. The results of Crofts, work was a display which brought much praise from people who appreciated the wonderful symmetry and design. The landscaping of the grounds lives on as a tribute to the workers who made the hospital grounds the most beautiful in the State of California. The first buildings provided bed space for less than 300 patients while the daily census of patients in 1923 was 400. Tents, erected in what is now the main patio, provided for the overflow. At that time three additional buildings were under construction. These buildings were completed in 1924- at a cost of approximately 3500,000 and added a medical and surgical department of three wards with 172 beds each. This brought the hospitalis total bed capacity up to 618. The third building was a service building which housed the shops, laundry and garage. The Fleet concentration in the Pacific and the growth of naval shore activities increased so that in 1925 the bed capacity of the hospital was once again inadequate. Captain Raymond Spear, then Medical Officer in Command, recom- mended the construction of four new buildings which in- cluded North wards, a laboratory department, an X-ray de- partment, a nurses' quarters and an incinerator building. Completion of these buildings brought the number of avail- able beds up to 882, but another shortage occurred in 1928. The fourth contract provided for a contagion ward at the south end ofthe patio, a Hospital Corps School and a Morgue. The entire compound in 1928 represented an investment 5' qi E5 alll Bl I5 Hill il is .yggggl ll as ll ORIGINAL SURGERY BUILDING, 1917