Rest house

“ The servant comes four times a day into the rooms: in the morning to draw the blinds and the curtains, open the inner blinds, carry off the boots and clothes, and bring a large can of hot water with a fluffy towel on which to place the feet; at midday and at seven in the evening to bring water and the rest, in order that the visitor may wash before luncheon and dinner; at night to shut the window, arrange the bed, get the bath ready, renew the linen;—all this with silence, gravity, and respect. ”

“ As there is no help, we take our places among the little herd of weary mortals without a murmur; among the ragged beards and uncombed locks; the soiled blouses and travel-worn shoe-leather; the horny hands and embrowned visages of our motley companions. We are duly marshalled to bed at eight o’clock with the rest; huddled into our loft where nine beds await some sixteen occupants; and having undergone the customary examination as to our freedom from disease and vermin, are safely locked in our dormitory, to be released only at the good will of the “Vater” in the morning. ”

“ Every hospital, every alms-house, and every village should have the means of obtaining such a bed for the many classes of sufferers who would thus find relief, and it is woman who should interest herself to secure such a comfort for the sick, who especially are commended to her benevolent ministries. ”

“ Walls and floor should be painted, and a colonial rug placed before the bed. Don't give the servant's room the look of a perpetual rummage sale by making it a dumping ground for old defaced pictures, furniture, and bric-a-brac. Remember that it is her only haven of rest, and have it restful, if only for selfish reasons, for renewed bodily vigor means well-done work and a made-over disposition. When we think of the average servant's room, small, stuffy, poorly ventilated, hot in summer, cold in winter, and unattractive to a degree, it ought to bring a blush of shame. ”

“ As far as my individual experience goes, I have seen an old woman, who had been bed-ridden for years, more comfortably housed and tended beneath a cottage roof, and her room kept more exquisitely clean and sweet than that of many wealthy patients in splendid houses. Of course everything depends on the capacity for organisation and arrangement in the person who has charge of the invalid, but the nurse’s task may be made much easier by having to perform it in a bedroom and under conditions which are in accordance with the exigencies of such a time. ”

“ When in a covered bed the patient should be frequently visited; he should be taken up at least once in three hours, unless asleep; the bed and the patient should be kept perfectly clean. If used in the daytime an attendant should sit beside the patient for some hours and try to keep him quietly in bed, and the same should be done in the evening when the patient is put to bed. An attendant should be able to report how much the patient sleeps, how much quiet and rest is obtained, the effect of the treatment, and compare the condition of the patient when in the bed with what it is when not used. ”

“ What a relief it is, when suffering with illness, to be transported from a close, dirty cabin to a large room and tidy accommodations! How soothing to a sick man are those thousand little conveniencies and delicacies which only the hand of woman can supply, and from which the sufferer on shipboard is debarred! The well-aired bed linen; the clean and tidy apartment; the flowers placed on the stand opposite the bed; the green jalousies left half open to admit the cooling breeze ”

“ The air of the apartment cannot be too pure; therefore, let the evacuations from the bowels be instantly removed, either to a distant part of the house, or to an out-house, or to the cellar, as it might be necessary to keep them for the medical man’s inspection.
Let there be a frequent change of linen, as in sickness it is even more necessary than in health, more especially if the complaint be fever. In an attack of fever clean sheets ought, every other day, to be put on the bed; clean body-linen every day. A frequent change of linen in sickness is most refreshing. ”

“ When the house is large enough to allow it, and your choice is not limited, use a room adjoining, or at least on the same floor as the one to be occupied afterward by the patient, and as near the bath-room as possible. ”

“ To-day, unless the patient can go to a properly equipped and maintained sanitarium, physicians recognize that conditions may be as beneficial at home as elsewhere and, provided the three factors mentioned—good food, rest, and fresh air—can be obtained, the chances for recovery are better because of better care at home than elsewhere. ”

“ After we were back to the sitting-room a number of women were ordered to make the beds, and some of the patients were put to scrubbing and others given different duties which covered all the work in the hall. It is not the attendants who keep the institution so nice for the poor patients, as I had always thought, but the patients, who do it all themselves—even to cleaning the nurses’ bedrooms and caring for their clothing. ”

“ Where at first the most absolute rest is desirable, as in cases of heart-disease, or where there is a floating kidney, I arrange to have the bowels and water passed while lying down, and the patient is lifted on to a lounge for an hour in the morning and again at bedtime, and then lifted back again into the newly-made bed. In most cases of weakness, treated by rest, I insist on the patient being fed by the nurse, and, when well enough to sit up in bed, I order that the meats shall be cut up, so as to make it easier for the patient to feed herself. ”

“ People had their sleeping rooms, with, it might be, antechambers, rooms that were always sanitary at least whatever the degree of comfort and privacy, and for the rest they lived much as many people had lived in the new-made giant hotels of the Victorian days, eating, reading, thinking, playing, conversing, all in places of public resort, going to their work in the industrial quarters of the city or doing business in their offices in the trading section. ”

“ Considering that a third part of the life of man is, or should be, spent in sleep, great care is taken with the bed-rooms, so that they shall be thoroughly lighted, roomy, and ventilated. Twelve hundred cubic feet of space is allowed for each sleeper, and from the sleeping apartments all unnecessary articles of furniture and of dress are rigorously excluded. Old clothes, old shoes, and other offensive articles of the same order, are never permitted to have residence there. In most instances the rooms on the first floor are made the bed-rooms, and the lower the living-rooms. ”

“ Let ventilation, sunshine, and absolute cleanliness rule in the sick-room. Never raise a dust, but wipe the carpet with a damp cloth, and pick up bits as needed. Never let lamp or sun light shine directly in the eyes, and, when the patient shows desire to sleep, darken the room a little. Never whisper, nor wear rustling dresses, nor become irritated at exactions, but keep a cheerful countenance, which helps often far more than drugs. ”

“ The nurse can thus often have the benefit of the solitude and quiet of her own room and yet be so close to her patients that nothing can escape her notice. A bathroom, also enjoying the sunshine, separates the two wards and can be used by the patients of either. These light, airy, sunny wards with their open fireplaces seem more like the rooms of a pleasant home than the dreary apartments of a hospital. ”

“ Elsewhere the French word Hospital obtains for any establishment set apart for the temporary accommodation of the poor. Formerly, however, it implied a lazar-house or a refuge for fallen women; in its modern sense a hospital is exclusively an institution for the sick poor.
Hospice of St Bernard. See “Bernardine Hospice.”
Hospital. See “Hospice.”
Hostelry. From the old French hostellerie, an inn, through the Latin hospes, a stranger, a guest. The modern French form is “Hotel,” which implies not only an establishment for the entertainment of travellers, but also a superior house or palace. ”

“ An extra room adjoining the sick-room is invaluable to a good nurse, for here, if it be warm weather, she can, when necessary, have a fire, can air linen, wash up any plates, glasses, etc., and do a hundred and one little duties she would otherwise be compelled to perform in the sick-room, thus saving much disturbance to the patient, and keeping the sick-room as it should be kept, free from noise or litter of any sort. ”

“ The dining rooms for the attendants and convalescent patients are as well arranged and conveniently furnished as in any well regulated boarding house, and the preparation and time of meals are attended to with scrupulous promptness and care. The meals for the sick are furnished by the attendants who go to the kitchen with trays in regular divisions, at the ringing of a bell, where from an abundant and various store each takes what is required for the patients in his charge. ”

“ And the health and comfort of the people were provided for as well as their amusement, for there were elegant marble baths, and a number of fine hospitals for the care of the sick, and a wonderful system of lighting the houses and palaces, so that the night seemed almost turned into day again, and a well-trained fire-department, always ready to act at any moment, and in fact, everything that could be done to make the people healthy and happy, and to protect their lives and property, was done. ”

“ In the airy wards into which the old state drawing-rooms and family bedchambers of that house are now converted, are lodged such small patients that the attendant nurses look like reclaimed giantesses, and the kind medical practitioner like an amiable Christian ogre. Grouped about the little low tables in the centre of the rooms, are such tiny convalescents that they seem to be playing at having been ill. ”

“ Whatever may have been the sentiments of your housekeeper's heart at such a delayed home-coming and such a finding of your entire domestic establishment taken possession of by boys, and not only an asylum, but a hospital, all at once on your hands—whatever the amusement or vexation at the general upsetting of order on each side, you kept it all to yourself! ”

“ Wash, dress, feed, warm and nurse them for the next three months, I dare say. Eighty beds are ready, and we were getting impatient for the men to come. Now you will begin to see hospital life in earnest, for you won't probably find time to sit down all day, and may think yourself fortunate if you get to bed by midnight. ”

“ But the highest benefit will be the change and cheer it will introduce into the monotony of hospital life. If you are sick at home, you are glad to have your neighbor step in and bring the healthy bracing air of out-door life into the dimness and languor of your invalid existence. Much more does the sick soldier like it,—for ennui, far more than pain, is his great burden. When I was at Washington, I accepted with great satisfaction an invitation to go with a Sanitary visitor on her round of duty. ”

“ A great restlessness spread like a wave through the hospital tent. Men waked from troubled slumber, crying aloud like children, piteously, unreasoningly, for water.
The doctor went from one to another, restraining, soothing, reassuring. ”

“ Those patients who pay ten dollars a week, occupy separate chambers, with separate attendants; others pay only three dollars a week, and many nothing at all. The latter are all in the same halls, which, however, are very light and well ventilated. The sick sleep on beds of hard wood, with good hair mattresses and very fine bed clothes. The steps are of granite, the halls and chambers are planked, and the floors are painted with oil colours. I have seen many hospitals, but none in which the sick were so conveniently and suitably lodged, and none in which cleanliness was so well observed. ”

“ We have now a Municipal Emergency Home that will accommodate a hundred and forty. The house is just as sanitary as it is possible to make an emergency home. It has all modern improvements, separate beds, baths, medical attendance, and fumigation. ”

“ It had comfortable spring beds and mattresses, and soft woollen blankets. There were kitchens, a dispensary, an emergency operating room and even bathrooms. A staff of medical officers, nurses and trained orderlies did all which human power can do to make the men comfortable during a trying journey. Every man had had his supper, and his wounds had been dressed en route as scientifically and carefully as if he had been in a "Base Hospital." ”

“ Re-making the patient’s bed is our next consideration. If well enough to go into another room, he should either be carried there, or laid on a sofa and wheeled in. As soon as he is out of the way, the window of the sick-room should be thrown open to its widest, and the bed-clothes taken off one by one, well shaken, and left so exposed that the air can circulate freely around them. The mattresses should share the same treatment, and if possible, be left for a few minutes before being replaced. The patient will indeed be peculiar who does not enjoy the refreshment of a bed thus aired. ”

“ The second cabin dining room had been turned into a hospital to care for the injured, and the first, second and third class dining rooms were used for sleeping rooms at night for women, while the smoking rooms were set aside for men. ”

“ In the house, which, having been erected for a private family, is not well suited for its present purpose, everything is an example of cleanliness and order. The hospital is in the main part of the building, and is fitted up with every possible convenience. ”