Mayo hospital open 50 years : Unique Institution to Mark Anniversary

              A hospital which is unique in New Orleans in that it is the only one operated solely for the benefit of women and chil dren will this year celebrate the 50th anniversary of its opening.
The institution reaching this milestone is an eventful history! in the Sara Mayo Hospital at] 609 Jackson Ave., named after | a pioneering woman doctor who j found her sex a barrier to! practice in the male-dominated j hospitals of her time.
From its founding, the Sara j Mayo Hospital has never lost its feminine touch —• its administrator today is a woman and its board of directors is composed entirely of women, 30 of them.
"But," says Mrs. Phyllis D j Eagan, administrator, "we have no prejudice against men and couldn't operate without them. Our active staff of 40 physicians is composed largely of men an;! 11 think they take kindly to us."
POLICY EXPLAINED The   policy  of   the   hospital, says  Mrs.  Leon  Godchaux II president  of  the  board of  directors,  has been "to provide a facility for those who can afford and would prefer private doctors, but cannot afford ex-,pensive hospital  care,   and  to provide  clinic  care for lower-1 income patients i>ii a part-pay basis."
Mrs. Godchaux said that low income families would have to  pay   from   20   to  45
per cent more for services at other leading hospitals in New Orleans.
"For example, patients ;n clinics maintained by the departments of medicine, surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, urology, orthopedics, op-thamology and psychiatry pay $1 for initial visits and 50c for subsequent visits. Services oi specialists from the active medical staff are donated for this purpose.
"The obstetrical clinic provides all pre-natal care, delivery and hospital nursing anr* post-partal visits for the modest sum of $85, which is paid by the patient over the term of pregnancy.
'CONSIDERABLY LESS'
"Other clinic patients re quiring hospitalization are provided ward beds at a cost oi $4 a day, considerably less thar in other hospitals. Private pa tients are admitted by members of the medical staff.
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"Without Saro Mayo, our low-income families would be in a \ desperate   plignt   for   medicai \ care. That they can obtain this j $ care within the limits of their; k ability to pay is a tribute  to | \ our fine medical staff and the j many volunteers  who  are  associated with the hospital."
Some of the early records
of the hospital have been lost,   ]
but Mrs. Eagan estimates that   j
the   institution   since   it  first
opened its doors has treated   J
the  equivalent  of half the   \
present population of New Or-   :
leans.                                         .
All   of   those   patients,   Mrs
Eagan says, have been women j'
and children.
Actually,   the history of  the] hospital goes beyond 50 years ago  to  1905.  In  May  of  that year, Dr. Sara Tew Mayo an \ { six   other  women   doctors   organized the New Orleans hos pital and Dispensary for Women and Children.
HEALING INSTITUTIONS Dr. Mayo recognized that the' public was losing its idea of hospitals as a "place of last resort" and was looking to them! instead as institutions of heal ing. It was the dawn of an era of great advancement in medical sciences and hospitals.
"Unfortunately," says Mrs. Egan, "women doctors were not welcome to practice in all hospitals. It was for this reason and to provide the service of women doctors to women and children in a clinic, dispensary or hospital that Dr. Mayo decided to act."
On Dec. 14, 1905, the New Orleans Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children was chartered as a non-profit corporation.
At first, the new institution acted almost exclusively as a dispensary and patients were treated in a four-room cottage on Annunciation st. These quarters were soon found to be inadequate and the Dispensary was moved to a building at 810 Felicity st. which was provided rent-free.
In its first year of operation, the Dispensary treated 3760 patients.
NEWSPAPER   AIDS Work  of  the  Dispensary  attracted the attention of a group of New Orleans women. A com-j mittee called upon a newspaper fpr financial help, with the result that the proceeds of a day's edition was turned over to them. The $14,000 that was raised was divided between the Dispensary j and a district nursing program sponsored by the Dispensary.
With its share, Mrs. Egan says, the Dispensary purchased a site at 1823 Annunciation. In 1908, the Dispensary was promoted to a hos-! pital—the first in New Orleans for women and children.
The New Orleans Hospital for f Afomen and Children continued  ( ts  operations  on Annunciation   : 5t. until 1940, when the Housing  , Authority included the location vithin   the   boundaries   of   the   ' St. Thomas housing project. NEW QUARTERS NEEDED      | The   hospital   moved   to   its  j present location at 609 Jackson  , ave., in a building designed to ■ louse the Episcopal Children's j rlome. The three-story building,  : i Jackson ave. landmark since j: L878, has been renovated to the'" limits of its practical use as a lospital but,  Mrs.  Egan  says,< additional   quarters   are   badly needed.
On May 25, 1948, the institution's name was changed to Sara Mayo Hospital in honor of  its founder.
The hospital, Mrs. Godchaux says, has a fine record of service to a large segment of the population who, were it not for the low-cost services provided by it, would be forced to resort ' to  public  charity.
It has accomplished this rec~ ' ord despite the fact that it calls upon   the   State   of   Louisiana, ( the Community Chest and the ! City of New Orleans for only 9^ per cent of its expenses. The ! remainder is met entirely from . revenue from patients.               '
Nevertheless, Mrs. Godchaux said, the hospital has serious, problems to solve if it is to continue in existence.
"The   hallmark   of   medical care," she said,  "is accredita- ' tion by the joint Commission of . Accreditation  of  Hospitals,   an agency  of  the  American  Hos- } pital Association, the American Colleges of Physicians and. Sur-|;: geons   and  the  American  and | Canadian Medical Associations. |
"Sara   Mayo   Hospital   has  j, been  granted provisional  accreditation, with the greatest negative factor in the evaluation  being the  out-worn  and out-dated physical plant. Accreditation cannot be retained until the hospital is brought to present <iay standards." The problems of   Sara   Mayo have been such, Mrs. Godchaux| said, that there has been recommendations   that   it   operate only as a clinic, and even that it close its doors entirely.
"However, as a result of the survey seeking accreditation of the hospital," she said, "the board realized that continuance of full operation in the present plant would not only be hazard-! ous, but that it would be next to impractical to see a future for the hospital under existing conditions."
ADVISORY   GROUP
Mrs. Godchaux said that the board last spring decided to form a Men's Advisory Committee to counsel with the board
on what future plans should be made for the hospital.
This committee, which has been meeting for months, includes:
George H. Lehleitner, chairman, and Henry Boh, Arthur Boh, Paul V. Burke, parry N. Charbonnet, James A. Com-iskey, Richard W. Freeman, Leon Heymann, Dr. John A.i King, Nicholas Lapara, Irving Moss, Clayton L. Nairne, Henry M. Robinson, Solon B. Turman and A. J. Wolf Jr.
A program has been formulated which includes plans for expansion and modernization of the hospital plant on as modest a basis as possible, Mrs. Godchaux said. This plan has received the endorsement, she said, of the Orleans Parish Medical Society.
Prescent capacity of the hospital is 64 beds for children and adults and 23 bassinets. Of the 64 beds, 21 are set aside for use of Negro patients.
NON-SECTARIAN BASIS
"From its inception," Mrs. Godchaux said, "the hospital has sought to serve women and children on a non-sectarian basis without regard to race. In proportion to population figures of the city, about 30 per cent of its facilities are set aside for colored patients."
In addition to Mrs. Godchaux, officers of the board of directors include Mrs.Ruble Moor, first vice-president; Mrs. M. D. Kost-; mayer, second vice-president;! Mrs. B. C. Gore, acting treas-i urer, Mrs. Harry McCall Jr., recording secretary, and Mrs. Maurice Stern Jr., corresponding secretary.
Members of the board include:
Mrs. Kate Adams, Mrs. Walter Barnes, Mrs. W. Rogers Brewster, Mrs. E. L. Donaldson, Mrs. A. T. Dusenbury, Mrs. Leon Godchaux II, Mrs. B. C. Gore, Mrs. Everett Gould, Mrs. William Hardie, Mrs. Lawrence Himel, Mrs. Albert Hopfensitz, Mrs. W. Kohlmann, Mrs. M. D. Kostmayer, Mrs. Erwin C. Lea, Mrs. Harry McCall Jr., Dr. E. P. McCormick, Mrs. A. W. Mc-Lellan, Mrs. Ruble Moor, Mrs. Hartwig Moss II, Mrs. Hughes Schneidau, Miss Annie Mae Shoemaker, Mrs. Charles Smither, Mrs. Maurice Stern Jr., Mrs. Harry Thomas, Mrs. P. W. Treleaven, Mrs. H. H. Vatter, Mrs. A. I. Weil, Mrs. Claude M. Williams, Dr. G. R. Williamson, and Dr. E. D. Witt.
Honorary members are:
Mrs. George Allen, Dr. Rena Crawford, Miss Florence Dy-mond, Mrs. Paul Felder, Miss Sara Lea, Mrs. Max Levy, Mrs. J. T. O'Ferrall, Mrs. Fred Ogden, and Mrs. H. W. Robinson