Vol. I
February 1954
No. I
FINAL PLANS FOR NEW WING ANNOUNCED
By Wendell Weisend
The new $3, 386, 000 sev
en-floor addition to Duke Hos
pital is expected to be under
construction by April or May,
President Hollis Edens an
nounced last week. The wing
will provide a new out-patient
clinic and more than 100 new
beds and will answer the;
pressing need for relieving
congestion in the present out
patient clinic and the hospital
service areas.
Bringing the number of
beds to 668, the new addition
will make Duke, among pri
vate general hospitals in the
South, second in size only to
Johns Hopkins Hospital
in Baltimore. It will
also improve the out
patient clinic, already
termed Duke's "great
est sir.ale contribution
to Southern medical
care"
The out - patient-
clinic, originally de
signed for 200 patients
a day, now handles
some 160,000 visits a
year --an average of
more than 400 per day.
"All departments,
but especially pediat
rics, psychiatry, sur
gery and medicine, are
in great need of more
out - patient clinic
space, " Dean Davison
said. In the, new wirig,
which will extend back
from PDC toward the
Duke Gardens, pediatrics and
psychiatry will occupy the en
tire basement floor. { See
sketch, page Z.)
The new out-patient clin
ic (occupying the basement,
ground and first floors of the
addition ) will reduce waiting
time and provide faster and
more efficient medical ser
vice with larger, more com
fortable waiting areas, more
examining rooms and in
creased medical facilities.
Expanded medical facili
ties will include 10 new oper
ating rooms, three additional
X-ray machines, a central
Architects' drawing of new wing
laboratory and more space
for the Medical Record Li
brary, dietetics and the Cen
tral Supply Room.
Better employee facili
ties, including lockers and
lounges, a lar-ger cafeteria,
more space for business and
administrative offices plus
new classrooms and other
teaching facilities for the
Medical School will be availa
ble.
Architects are now mak
ing final drawings of the wing,
which will be built with the
same native stone used in the
Gothic architecture through
out West Campus.
Completion of the build
ing may take about two
years.
The new addition
has been under consid
eration for several
years. President Edens
explained. As early as
1946, the Duke Endow
ment made available a
sum of one million dol
lars toward the cost.
The remaining cost will
be met by contributions
from a number of pri
vate sources to the
medical and hospital
building fund. Dr. Edens
added.
The wing will be
one of many alterations
in the original Hospital
and Medical School
Building. When the
(cont'd on page 3)