HOSPITAL OR INFIRMARY

Stillman Infirmary was built in 1901 as a retreat for Harvard men suffering from those minor ailments which could not be cared for in a dormitory, and were not serious enough to take to a hospital. In its thirty years of existence it has outgrown this original purpose, and has become a small, but real hospital, caring for almost any illness contracted by a member of the University. Unfortunately neither the personnel of the Infirmary, nor its equipment has kept pace with its changing purpose.

Physically Stillman is very much the same today as it was when built. To be sure, now operating room equipment has been provided, but the plumbing has been little modernized; and although an annex for opidemies and contagious diseases was built many years ago, it has not been provided with telephone service. Every effort is made to provide the best possible care for each case, but the fact that there is no resident physician, and that there is a dearth of private rooms makes the care of seriously ill patients difficult, it not inadequate.

Stillman Infirmay does fill a need among Harvard students for economical hospital service, but it allows the importance of fulfilling that need overcome its better judgement. It is obviously not equipped to do all that it undertakes. The ideal solution of the problem is the construction of an adequate University hospital, staffed with a resident physician, and provided with a sufficient number of private rooms and proper facilities for the care of contagion. At present such a building is but a dream awaiting the wand of another Harkness to make it a reality. Until that wand is applied, Stillman should be restored to its original status, and arrangements made with Cambridge General Hospital, or the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital for the care of operative cases and other serious illness.