News Items from The Kansas City Journal ~ Old News That's New to You from Vintage Kansas City.com

February 5, 1910

BLANKETS FOR THE BABIES.

Generous Response to the Appeal for

the Mercy Hospital.

As the result of an announcement in the Journal that babies at Mercy hospital were sadly in need of blankets to keep them warm these cold nights, blankets for the babies were contributed yesterday by the following generous hearted women:

Miss Inez Wagner, 3127 Woodland avenue.
Ruth Beall Smith, 3915 Walnut street.
Mrs. John H. Leidigh, $6 in cash in lieu of blankets.
Mrs. Dreyfoos, 2101 Wabash avenue.
Miss Isidore Westheimer.
Miss Edna Stone.
Mrs. Rose A. Price, 4032 Warwick boulevard.
The Doress Circle, Independence Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.

Labels: charity, Mercy hospital, women

January 31, 1910

WATER BOTTLES WARM TOTS.

Lack of Blankets at Mercy Hospital

Forced Substitute.

Every bottle, jug, or other vessel that would hold hot water was in use at Mercy hospital Saturday night, and for the unusual purpose of raising the temperature in the rooms to compensate, to some extent, for lack of blankets.

In numerous instances it necessary to place little patients in the glass-enclosed balconies where they can have the benefit of plenty of fresh air and be isolated from other inmates. But, while fresh air is necessary in these cases, it is also essential that their bodies be amply protected from the cold. It was the lack of adequate bed clothing that nearly drove the nurses distracted Saturday night, and after using everything available, the hot water vessels were resorted to.

Mercy hospital needs fifty pairs of blankets and needs them right now. That it will get them is practically assured, for Kansas City is quick to respond to any appeal from this worthy charity. In making the appeal the officials of the institution state that they prefer donations of money with which to purchase the necessary equipment. The blankets in use at Mercy hospital are made to order, of a certain size and weight, and are purchased at a much smaller figure than individual buyers can secure them.

Labels: charity, Mercy hospital

January 14, 1910

FUND ONE-FIFTH COMPLETED.

Mercy Hospital for Children Still

Needs $4,000 for Extension.

One-fifth of the $5,000 needed by the Mercy hospital to furnish the second floor of their hospital for children, has been received and several other donations promised. "We have to have the money to furnish this floor," said Dr. Alice Graham, superintendent of the hospital, last night. "A short time ago we had all the patients that we could care for. I consider that $5,000 will furnish this floor and leave enough funds to pay the help for the year. We have no private income. We received a check the other day from a woman in Detroit, Mich. One large room is to be fixed up for the permanently afflicted children."

Labels: charity, children, doctors, hospitals, Mercy hospital

October 8, 1909

BOOKS TEACH HIM NEWS WAYS.

Brady Richards Is Found a Prodigy

After Short Schooling.

Although reared in ignorance and taught to believe that the lives of "Nick Carter" and "Jesse James" were the only books in existence, Brady Richards, the recently adopted son of Dr. Katharine Richards, has proved a prodigy since an opportunity to attend school was given him.

About two years ago the boy was severely injured and is a cripple. He was placed in Mercy hospital for treatment. While living with his father and stepmother in Central Missouri, Brady was not allowed to attend the district school; in fact, his parent objected to "larnin'."

In the hospital, Dr. Richards came in contact with the boy and he grew fond of her. One day he told her he wanted to go to her home to live, and she took him there. The boy then learned that there were other books besides the "Nick Carter" kind, and was anxious for an education.

His physical condition deterred him from attending school regularly, but he studied alone at home. Within six months the boy, who is 14 years old, advanced so rapidly that he has made up the work usually requiring four years' time. When well enough, an attendant carries him to the Scarritt school, where a special invalid's chair has been provided for him. He is the pride of his teachers and the friend of every little child in the school.

Labels: children, doctors, Mercy hospital, schools

September 22, 1909

Excuse the Police Make.

Were Afraid Someone Would Talk

to Women in Matron's Room.

That someone might talk to the women prisoners who were confined in the matron's room Monday night was the excuse yesterday of the police for keeping two women with babes in arms in the holdover, instead of placing them in the matron's room, where they are ordinarily taken.

Mrs. Mattie Bell, whose 6 months old baby was removed to the Emergency hospital before morning, was turned over to the Humane society, and the child was sent to Mercy hospital.

The other woman was removed to the matron's room this morning.

Labels: Humane Society, jail, Mercy hospital, police headquarters, police matron

May 9, 1909

MERCY HOSPITAL IS

OPENED TO PUBLIC.

$10,000 BUILDING DONATED BY

CHARITABLE PERSONS.

Distinctive Kansas City Institution

Is Now Prepared to Care for

More Patients -- Its

Great Record.

After some years of hard work on the part of the directors of Mercy hospital, the handsome new hospital building has been finished and yesterday afternoon and evening it was thrown open to the public for inspection. The new building, outside of labor and many donations of work, was erected and furnished at a cost of something over $10,000, the whole sum being donated by charitable persons. Those who attended the reception yesterday were struck with the appearance of the new hospital building and were unanimous in their belief that the money had been well spent.

Mercy hospital is a distinctive institution in Kansas City. The only patients it will take are the sick babies and children of parents who cannot afford to secure competent medical attention. Mercy hospital has a record for the past four years, having lost but two patients who were over two years of age.

ITS WORK WELL KNOWN.

The little babies taken there range from a few hours in age to several months. The greatest death loss has, naturally, been of the newborn babies.

So well was the work of Mercy known to the public that the old building was constantly filled with patients. It had a capacity of eighteen patients and then the nurses and attendants had to live in halls and corners. Each day, in the old building, applicants had to be turned away because of the lack of facilities.

The new hospital has a capacity of 100 patients and the nurses and attendants will occupy the old building which adjoins. The new building is three stories in height containing all of the latest appliances for hospitals and a great amount of equipment which is used for children only.

On the first floor the most noticeable room is the children's playroom. Heretofore, when the weather was bad, the children have had no place for their games. The new playroom has been fitted with toys, blocks and some gymnastic apparatus.

The second floor is given over to wards entirely, one noticeable ward being the room allotted to the incurable cases so that the children need not be sent away from the hospital because they had stayed so long a time and could not be cured.

FLOODED WITH LIGHT.

Bordering the entire second floor is a sixteen-foot sun porch, which is to be filled with a long line of little white iron beds for those children who need the outdoor air.

The third floor is also given over to wards, but there the nurses' dining rooms are located.

The whole building is flooded with outdoor light, and the ventilating system is of the most modern type. The institution is run wholly by the charity of the people of Kansas City, having no endowment whatever.

Yesterday morning the twenty-one little patients were moved from their old, cramped quarters into the new and roomy wards. They were greatly delighted and entertained by the many visitors who went to Mercy hospital to see the good work of the directors and the people of the city. Only those infants who are dangerously ill were kept in the old building.

Labels: children, hospitals, Mercy hospital, nurses, toys

January 22, 1909

SEEKING GIFTS FOR MERCY.

Hospital League Wants Food to Feed

the Hungry "Hoo-Hoos."

The Mercy Hospital League, a band of women who have organized for the purpose of aiding that institution, has hit upon a scheme by which it hopes to make a few more dollars for the hospital. During the "Hoo-Hoo," or lumbermen's convention next week, the league intends to supply the hungry "wood merchants" with dinner on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The spreads will be made in Convention hall.

The league is asking donations of home-made cake and all kinds of home-canned fruits. It is asking the housewives of Kansas City to open their hearts and larders and assist. Mrs. L. Moreland, 1117 Troost avenue, has been made a committee of one to secure donations.

"It is an easy task," Mrs. Moreland said yesterday, "if the good housewives will just come forward with their donations. If convenient for donors to deliver their gifts, I will receive them at my home. My telephone number is 3806Y Grand on the Bell, and if any who wish to aid us will call me up, or drop me a note, we will see that the cake and fruits are collected."

Labels: charity, Convention Hall, conventions, food, Mercy hospital, telephone, Troose avenue, women

August 26, 1908

RAT POISON KILLED A BABY.

Little Harold Hunt Suffered Six

Days After Eating It.

After six days of unconsciousness from having eaten rat poison, Harold Hunt, 2 years of age, died at the Mercy hospital early yesterday morning. The day after the baby ate the poison it was taken to its home in Prior Creek, Ok., by its mother and received treatment from six physicians. Sunday the child seemed to grow much worse and its parents hurried it back to Kansas City, where it might receive expert medical attention. Mrs. J. J. Erwin, the mother, took the baby to the general hospital, where she was told that the child would receive better attention at the Mercy hospital, that being especially a hospital for children. The mother took the advice, but the child was beyond medical aid.

Mrs. Erwin had been visiting her mother at 216 West Sixteenth street, and it was at that place where Harold ate a biscuit which had been sprinkled with rat poison.

Labels: children, death, Mercy hospital, oklahoma, poison, Sixteenth street, visitors

July 23, 1908

MERCY'S DISPENSARY IS OPEN.

It's Free, and at the Service of White

Children Only.

The free dispensary for white children was formally openend yesterday at Mercy hospital. It is the only dispenary in the city exclusively for white children.

Last year the Mercy hospital staff operated a small dispensary and found it successful, so the fully equipped dispensary was arranged for a permanent part of the institution. The doctors on the hospital staff will practice in the dispensary and the staff surgeons will give their services.

Labels: children, health, Mercy hospital, race

February 23, 1907

ADOPTED A NINTH CHILD.

Mrs. Fanny Savage, Highwayman's

Wife, Accused of Neglect.

When Mike Savage, alias O'Brien, was arrested by Detectives Kenny and Ghent on a charge of highway robbery, at his home, 417 East Eighteenth street, the night of February 14, those officers reported to Colonel J. C. Greenman, Humane agent, that a little 5-month old baby was being kept there in squalor, wretchedness and misery.

Yesterday morning Dr. E. L. Matthias, of the juvenile court and Mrs. Kate Pearson, of the Associated Charities, went to the Eighteenth street house, while Mrs. Fanny Savage, the baby's foster mother, was away and took the little one to Mercy hospital, Fifth street and Highland avenue, where it is said to be in precarious condition.

When Mrs. Savage returned home she was taken before Colonel Greenman for investigation and asked why she had adopted a child of such a tender age and then had neglected it. She said her husband saw it at St. Anthony's home and "took pity on it" and for that reason she adopted it -- "just because my husband wanted me to," she said. "I have eight of my own now and five of them are at home."

Savage, James Severwright, Samuel Hite and Herman, alias "Dutch" Gall, are all confessed highwaymen now in the county jail awaiting trial.

Labels: Associated Charities, Col. J. C. Greenman, crime, custody, Eighteenth street, Highland avenue, highway robbery, jail, juvenile court, Mercy hospital, St Anthonys Home