November®, 1987
Page 3
Hospital Wards Still in Use
Durham wasn’t always
called "the City of Medi
cine." To earn its status,
our city’s health care had to
grow through many years of
progress and change. Oddly
enough, most of it happened
in the same rooms where
S&M students live today.
Antebellum Durham
County didn’t have suffi
cient health care facilities for
its growing population. See
ing this, George W. Watts
philandered the funds for a
county hospital. One of only
six general hospitals in
North Carolina at the time,
the Watts Hospital was dedi
cated on February 21, 1895
on the corner of Main and
Buchanan, near what is
now Duke East.
The hospital soon out
grew Its two-story building
and moved to a new loca
tion twenty-five acres north
west of the city. On Decem
ber 2, 1909. George W.
Watts gave this new slx-
bullding facility to the
citizens of Durham County.
The Watts complex con
tinued to expand by adding
pavilions. However, In the
1970’s, its facilities were
again too small for the busi
ness it received. Watts was
almost completely shut
down, and the medical cen
ter changed location for the
third time.
The new- hospital was
named the Durham County
Hospital, and older Durham
citizens suspected that the
V/atts 1908 building would
never be used again, A-
round this time. North Caro
lina Governor James B.
Hunt was looking for a site
where he could make a
dream come to life -The
North Carolina School of
Science and Mathematics.
Durham city council mem
bers successfully bid, to
Governor Hunt’s committee,
a plan to use the old Watts
Hospital.
Sigiiatures of George W.
V/atts’ heirs had to be ob
tained, because Mr. Watts
had stated in his will that
the hospital would belong to
the Watts family in case of
its closing. Thanks to the
help of George Watts Hill,
this seemingly impossible
task was completed; the
land, buildings, and anything
left behind by the hospital
were given to the state.
Originally, the third
floor of the 1908 building -
had been used for materni
ty. The balcony outside
what Is now a computer
room v/as used to "air the
babies." Nurses would take
i'ue Infants outside' for fresh
air to prevent them from get
ting" jaundice. (When the
State took over, the third
floor was not the main
maternity ward.)
The second floor housed
mental patients, admlnlstra-.
tive offices, a library, and a
Residents’ lounge. A pool •
table once_ sipod on the
marble floors of the Watts
lobby. The morgue was on
the ground floor where
there now are teachers’ of
fices. The incinerator and
supply room were in what
is now the Assembly
Hall.
Moving on down the
breezeway. there were three
pavilions- Reynolds E, D,
and C in the order they
were built. The first and
second floors of these ■
pavilions were open wards
with as many as twenty
beds in each ward and noth
ing but curtains between
patients.
The Emergency room
was situated on the 'ground
floor so patients could* easily
be transported from the court
yard ambulance entrance. A
small building to the right
of first floor breezeway was
originally surgery, and
another small building next
to it was respiratory ther-
Watts Hospital as It Is today.
apy,
Radiology was located in
Bryan Center’s North Wing
on the first floor, where
today’s library is. Above it
were surgery, maternity, and
laboratories on the second,
third, and fourth floors
respectively.
Bryan Center’s West
Wing was the home of ad
ministrative offices, a snack
bar,' the switchboard, and
the doctors’ entrance on the
first,floor, patients’ rooms on
the second, new mothers’
and pediatrics’ rooms on
third, and other patient
rooms on fourth. On the
ground floor were doctors’
lounges, two auditoriums for
the nursing school, and a
small cafeteria,
Beall pavilion was the
last building added to the
hospital. Luxurious and pri
vate patients’ rooms made
up the first, second, and
third floors. Intensive Care
patients were treated on the
ground floor.
Hill and Wyche Houses,
behind the main building,
were used as dormitories for
the nursing students. Class
rooms were in the bottom
of Hill, which was joined to
the main building by an
underground tunnel.
Eventually, the school
will have Its own gym
nasium. and Hill and Wyche
will be re-opened as dorms
and classrooms. The new
facilities will help accom
modate 600 students some
day, but such expansion
could never discard
NCSSM’s heritage and well-
known HOSPITALITY.
Seniors and Juniors: The Cycle Repeats
by Frank Wrenn
For the Seniors, all of
these new faces are hard to
accept. It had been difficult
in June, losing all of "their
Seniors"; now it would be
at least as difficult to accept
others taking their place.
As for other differences
between the classes, many
Seniors such as Dawn
Marsh feel that the Seniors
"weren’t as damn smart" as
the Juniors this year. 0th-
ers.such as Wedad Elmagh-
raby, think that the Juniors
are "a lot more cocky than
we were," According to
Hilary Sanders, Senior, "We
were cooler last year."
On the other hand,
Robert Charles, Senior, does
not agree:" I think we [the
Seniors] forgot how we act
ed first quarter [last year.] I
seem to remember acting
like some of the Juniors,
In general, they act about
the same as our class did."
His roommate, Stewart Coul
ter agrees, but adds, "1
think they [the Juniors] are
cool although they have a
lot to learn,"
And just what did the
Seniors learn last year? Rob
ert Charles learned "the true
meanings of love and hate."
Stewart Coulter has "a bet
ter perspective on life."
Hilary Sanders is "older and
wiser" and she "doesn’t
wear black all the time."
Robert Sanders knows "what
goes on here" and has a
grip on "what [he] wants
to do with [his] life," One
anonymous Senior has learn
ed a very essential lesson--
"Sleep is important,"
Perhaps the experience
of a Junior year at NCSSM
is the one thing that really
distinguishes the Seniors
from the Juniors. (It is a
prerequisite to being an
NCSSM Senior.) However,
there is no need to worry.
June will be upon us be
fore we know it, and the
Juniors will have learned
more than they can ever im
agine with the Seniors help
ing them along the way.
Some people think we
are all aIlke---one big
-NCSSM community with no
differences. However, as the
year progresses we will all
learn how we are unique.
The fact remains that each
class is distinct due to dif
ferent experiences.
Mykeko Bryant, Sen
ior,contends that "Since Hill
and Wyche are closed
down, male Juniors will not
experience the same identity
crisis that many Juniors ex
perienced last year when
they made the transition to
a new hall."
Residential Advisor
Marty Wagner agrees that
the past experiences of each
class do make them dif
ferent. "I do not know that
they [the Juniors] are differ
ent themselves [from the
Seniors] but they’ve been
given a better groundwork.
They will have a better
chance to adjust to life at
NCSSM with the progress
and new attitude of the
staff and students returning
here."
When the Juniors arrive
each year, there is a tenden
cy for the Senior class to
resent them. Senior Robert
-Sanders had some resent
ment towards the NCSSM
Class of 1989. Robert ex
plains that "At first, I,
along with many other Sen
iors. thought that the Jun
iors were the most arrogant
group of people that I
have ever encountered."
Robert continues, "1
guess I thought they were
trying to take over. I missed
the relationships with the
Seniors from last year. Now
that I have gotten to know
them [the Juniors], they are
not as bad [as I once had
thought]. I was kind of
scared to gel to know a
new group of people and
start all over,"
The Senior Class is
much larger than the Junior
class. This in Itself causes
some differences. This year
was proclaimed as having
the smoothest opening ever.
David Cherry. Senior, thinks
that last year’s opening was
not smooth at all. "The ad
ministration just wasn’t
'ready for such a big class."
Also, as Elizabeth Hlpps,
Senior, explains, "There was
a wider range of Juniors
last year because our class
was larger and therefore
more diverse."
Sean ?ahey. Junior,
believes that "although many
Juniors feel that Seniors are
too complacent and arrogant,
I tend to think that they
serve as good role models."
With all things consl-
dered, it is Important to real
ize that Juniors and Seniors
are like chocolate ripple ice
cream. Although the flavors
may be different, they taste
great together.
/^! -y f.LE/w&s
*7' A M'
Art Exhibited
by Danene Groenke
By no-(V, everyone
knows that there v/as an art
exhibit on campus, either
from seeing the visiting stu
dents on Thursday mornings
or by rushing past the
artwork displayed on Rey
nolds first breezeway around
the art studio. I have heard
all sorts of comments on the
artwork. "That’s open heart
surgery, I thought it -zzas
fruit." After hearing some
of these comments, I was
curious about which is the
favorite of the students.
From the poll that was
taken, the top vote getter
v/as "Within", the handtlnt-
ed photogragh of the open
heart surgery. It received
30.8% of the votes. Next
m,
//^
Uhen scicii' iLl'Ic
uotatirm hits the
Brli-ish Intellljjence
was "Hand - The Ultimate
Tool" with 24.16% of the
votes. This one is the pic
ture of the hand drawing
the hand. In third place
was "Beginnings" with
10.8% of the votes, followed
by "Botanist’s Cathedral"
with 7.5% of the votes.
The art exhibit was spon
sored by the National
Science Foundation and the
New York Academy of Scien
ces. These seventeen entries
were chosen for a national
tour from a competition held
last year in which high
school seniors from all over
the country submitted art
work. The artwork submitted
had to be based on the
theme "The Art of Science."