PICKING UP A SPECIMEN—Messenger Wyman Hardy
takes a specimen from Medical P. D. C. to be delivered to one
of several dozen labs throughout the Medical Center, (photo
by Dave Hooks)
Third in a Series
Messengers—A Vital Link
ON THE PHONE-AGAIN—Daniel Washington, messenger
service supervisor, and Mrs. Dorothy Hester, secretary, take
another request to transport a patient to a laboratory, (photo
by Dave Hooks)
The phone rings on an average of
once every two minutes all day long.
That's nearly 1,200 calls a week,
60,000 in a year.
And each time, a girl answers "Mes
senger Service," and a few minutes later
one of the 18 Medical Center messengers
is off on another trip through the hos
pital.
Messenger service at Duke is the de
partment responsible for moving more
than 90 per cent of the patients in the
hospital from wards to clinics, labora
tories, and special procedure sections
such as EEG. Messengers also pick up
and deliver a variety of specimens to
several dozen laboratories throughout the
Medical Center.
"Our employes probably know more
about the hospital than anyone else,"
Daniel Washington, messenger service su
pervisor, said. "We spend about a month
teaching new people all areas of the Medi
cal Center so they can pick up and take
something almost anywhere."
Though usually the messengers trans
port patients or specimens, they've been
called upon to move everything from
stacks of Intercoms to pieces of furni
ture and light machinery. "I wish I'd
kept a list of the unusual things we've
moved over the years," Mr. Washington
said. "It would be interesting reading."
In addition to moving patients from
place to place within the hospital, the
messengers aid patients at admission and
discharge with getting luggage and other
personal possessions to and from the
entrances. Messengers meet each patient
using the wheelchair entrance and take
them to their rooms or to the appropriate
clinic.
The messengers are not limited to
trips within the main hospital. They
often travel to Bell Building, the Veterans
Administration Hospital, and the Nana-
line H. Duke Building carrying specimens
to special laboratories.
At present there are ten women and
eight men serving as messengers on the
staff in addition to Mr. Washington and
secretary. "When I took over the de
partment three years ago, we had only
13 messengers," he said, "but we have
grown to 18 because of the work load.
Many of the employes who were here
when I became supervisor have advanced
to other positions."
Fifteen former messengers still work at
the hospital, most of them as PCA's.
Others are in the pharmacy, the medical
outpatient clinic, second-floor X-ray and
on the wards as secretaries.
The department, whose headquarters
is on the ground floor near radiation
therapy, includes Miss Marion Armstrong,
Mrs. Hassie Carmichael, Mrs. Alice Cash,
Leroy Davis, William Ferrell, Mrs. Olivia
Green, Wyman Hardy, Mrs. Dorothy Hes
ter, Mrs. Patricia Howard, Andrew Little,
Miss Sandra McNeil, Miss Lila Richmond,
Miss Alice Roberts, Miss Diane Rogers,
Miss Nellie Thompson, James Thorpe, and
Herman Watson.
OFF TO THE CLINIC—Messenger
Olivia Green of the hospital staff takes
Frances Surles, a patient at the Medical
Center, from her room to the Surgical
P. D. C. Messengers also transport pa
tients in wheelchairs or on stretchers if
necessary, (photo by Dave Hooks)