It is impossible to tell the history of The
Ladies Board without also telling the story of Loudoun Hospital.
The two are forever linked. The Loudoun community's campaign
for quality healthcare is truly inspiring!
[The
following excepts first appeared in the Summer, 1992 edition
of Loudoun Healthlink, a publication of Loudoun Healthcare
Inc., and are reprinted here with permission.]
Suffragettes parade in New York seeking votes for women.
The Titanic sinks in the Atlantic with the loss of 1,500
lives. Al Jolson's popularity sweeps the country…and
the Loudoun Light and Power Company brings the first electricity
to Purcellville.It was to a beautiful, rolling countryside
here in Loudoun County-rural in every regard-that P. Howell
Lightfoot returned in 1911 after many years in the West
working in hospital management. Soon his stories about small
hospitals being built around the country fell on interested
ears.For several years, two prominent local physicians,
Dr. William C. Orr and Dr. John A. Gibson, had felt Leesburg
desperately needed a hospital. Babies were delivered at
home, and minor surgical procedures were performed either
in patients' homes or in doctors' offices under unsatisfactory
conditions. Patients in need of major surgery were transported
to a Washington hospital on a cot in the baggage car of
the local railroad, suffering great discomfort and danger.
It was in Horace Littlejohn's drug store that the plan took
shape. And while Dr. Orr, Dr. Gibson and pharmacist Littlejohn
worked out the details, Mr. Lightfoot toured the county,
explaining the need for a hospital. A group of 11 dedicated
citizens banded together, and on June 5, 1912, Leesburg
Hospital opened in a rented house and quickly admitted its
first patient…fittingly for this rural community, a
jockey who was thrown from his horse in a race.
In 1911 not everyone in Loudoun was convinced there was
a real need for a hospital…some even predicting that
if one were established it could not be maintained. So for
a year Mr. Lightfoot earnestly canvassed the county arousing
interest, and finally on January 20, 1912, the Leesburg
Hospital was incorporated with Dr. Orr as president, Dr.
Gibson as vice president, Dr. Truman Parker as secretary
and Mr. Littlejohn as treasurer. With a 15-member Board
of Directors, $100 in the bank and pledges for $2,000, they
leased the large brick Garrett House on Market Street and
established a hospital with six rooms, one bath, one commode
and an outmoded gasoline sterilizer. Appointing Mr. Lightfoot
superintendent and manager, and Miss Catherine Oxley as
superintendent of nurses with one "pupil" nurse,
the hospital opened on June 5, 1912. Within three weeks,
according to the Loudoun Mirror, two operations had been
performed "in the well-lighted, well-equipped, modern
operating room" by Dr. Charles S. White of Washington,
a visiting surgeon who was to serve this community for over
40 years. The operating room off the side porch was reached
by carrying the anesthetized patient up the winding stairs.
The organizers realized that with little equipment and less
money, the hospital would need quality volunteer supervision
of housekeeping and a dependable source of ongoing fund-raising.
So they turned to the women of the community. Thus, on June
25, 1912, the Ladies Board of Managers met for the first
time. They invited 40 members representing all the churches
of Leesburg and each of the surrounding towns and villages
to ensure widespread support. Electing Mrs. William Corcoran
Eustis as president and Miss Alice Davis as vice president,
the ladies immediately held a Donation Day. They invited
community residents to come inspect their new hospital and
to "bring with them some donation-no matter how small
or how large" including "money, furniture, pictures,
sheets, towels, pillow cases, a pound of tea, other groceries,
eggs, vegetables, china, etc., anything which might contribute
to the well-being and comfort of the patients." For
many years the volunteers of The Ladies Board assumed responsibility
for overseeing the housekeeping, supplying china, glassware
and silver for the dining room, and maintaining equipment
and supplies for the kitchen, rooms and wards.
During the first year, 200 patients were treated, but only
18 patients could be accommodated at one time, many were
turned away due to lack of space. Soon the Board of Directors
realized that the cramped quarters and noisy location were
seriously limiting the hospital's function. So in 1914 they
began to plan for the construction of a new hospital and
changed the name from Leesburg Hospital, Inc. to Loudoun
Hospital, Inc. Meanwhile, The Ladies Board and the building
committee held a series of bazaars, suppers, fairs and other
activities to raise funds, and in 1916 thirteen acres was
purchased from the Harrison family for $3,600.Construction
of a 26-bed hospital began in March of 1917, and in April
1918 the new hospital opened with six private rooms, four
wards with five beds each, an operating room, a chemical
laboratory and an X-ray machine. A rope elevator transported
patients and supplies between the first and second floors.
(Everyone was nervous about this: What if the rope broke
or someone let go?)
A training school for nurses was established at the original
hospital in 1912 and by 1913 five students were enrolled.
Their training was rigorous-in the early days there were
only two shifts, so nurses worked 12-hour days. Thus it
was vital that nurses and students who did not live nearby
with their families be housed at the hospital. The third
floor of the new hospital was designated for this purpose,
but the quarters soon proved quite inadequate. So funds
were raised for a nurses' home was a prime concern of The
Ladies Board, which provided for furnishings, equipment
and maintenance. Throughout its existence the school took
great pride in the quality of its training: Forty-two nurses
were trained and graduated, many earning the prized Blue
Seal for 90 percent or better in all subjects on the State
examinations. In 1932 the nurses' training school was closed
due to its inability to meet the requirement of the State
Board of Nursing that lab teaching hospitals have at least
75 beds.
When the new Loudoun Hospital was completed in 1918, there
was much community interest in its success. The Leesburg
Garden Club chose to provide a vegetable garden to supply
patients and staff with fresh vegetables in summer and potatoes
and canned goods in winter. The Ladies Board assisted Garden
Club members with the massive canning task until it was
taken over by the hospital's housekeeper. These efforts
not only provided high quality food, they also saved the
hospital thousands of dollars annually. By 1919 the members
realized they could no longer support hospital gardening
and landscaping projects through their annual dues and began
a series of fundraising activities. Although plagued by
lack of money and occasional drought, the women presevered.
In 1925 the club instituted an annual flower show to benefit
the hospital. In 1937 a flower garden for the patients'
and nurses' enjoyment was laid out and endowed. And by 1940
the vegetable garden and grounds were so efficiently run
that the benefits were increasing yearly. As the decades
passed, however, and transportation and refrigeration improved
dramatically, the need for the vegetable garden declined
until it was finally abandoned in the early 1950's…thus
ending one chapter in the hospital's history.
From the first Donation Day in 1912 to the most recent rummage
sale, the same energetic and dedicated spirit has permeated
the ever-expanding activities of The Ladies Board. Membership
in The Ladies Board (and the accompanying commitment to
hard work) has become a way of life for generations of dedicated
Loudoun women. The Ladies Board's supports the hospital
through the Annual Rummage Sale, the Twice Is Nice thrift
shop, the Hospital Gift Shop, the Lights of Love, dues,
cash and other donations. They also sponsored the Memorial
Bed Fund, begun in 1941 to help pay hospital bills for needy
patients. Between 1957 and 1978, the fund made more than
$90,000 available toward the cost of direct patient care.
Thanks to their untiring commitment, The Ladies Board has
enabled the hospital to purchase washing machines and X-ray
machines; a flexible sigmoidoscopy system and instruments
for laparoscopic surgery; mountains of linens and acres
of land; a cafeteria and a CT scanner…and much more!
It has also supplied over $82,000 in nursing scholarships
and given $17,000 to the Lifeline program - not to mention
the $1,605 donated to the nursery from one member's penny
collection.
There
is so much more to tell about our hospital, The Ladies Board
and the impact both have had on Loudoun County. While it
gives us enormous pride to share our history, we are just
as excited about The Ladies Board's future. Come volunteer
with us, and you, too, will be a part of this fascinating
story!
