- Geelong Hospital
The Geelong Hospital is an
Australia npublic hospital located in Ryrie Street,Geelong, Victoria . The hospital is part ofBarwon Health , Victoria's largest regional health care provider. It is the largest hospital in regional Victoria and the only tertiary hospital outside of the Melbourne Metropolitan area. The site is bounded by Ryrie, Bellarine, Myers, and Swanston Streets.History
Originally opened as the Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Asylum in 1852 on the Ryrie Street site, it treated 344 inpatients in its first year. By 1862 the number of patients treated had increased to 2450. By the 1890s the buildings were deeded obsolete, with proposals being made for the hospital's relocation to Eastern Park. This was blocked by the city council who objected to the loss of parkland.
By 1917 a public meeting was held calling for a new hospital, to be dedicated to the memory of
Lord Kitchener . A building fund was set up, and work started in October 1922. The Geelong and District Kitchener Memorial Hospital as it was known opened on March 13, 1924. The original building consisted of a central administration block which remained until 2007, with wards branching off to each side. From 1927 theGala Day festival in Geelong helped raise money for the hospital.Further additions to the buildings included the boiler house on Swanston Street, the Kardina Ward along Bellarine Street in the 1920s, and the Baxter House maternity hospital in 1954 (now the
Geelong Private Hospital ).The 1960s saw the Birdsey Wing built behind the existing buildings, with the 1980s seeing the demolition of the old western wards and their replacement with the Heath Wing containing the new emergency department and main entrance. The Dax House psychiatric ward was also built at this time. The Andrew Love cancer centre was built in the early 1990s on the site of the older eastern wards.
Today
The Baxter House maternity hospital was closed in the late 1990s, being relocated into a redeveloped Dax House and renamed the Bellarine Centre. The psychiatric wards were moved into the former Swanston Street {Primary School which had closed some years earlier. The
Geelong Private Hospital took over the empty Baxter House.The Andrew Love cancer centre was redeveloped during 2006, and a new main entrance was provided to the hospital from Bellarine Street. A new administration office and emergency ward are currently under construction on the Ryrie Street side of the hospital.
Facts
*Has over 360 beds.
*Treated over 54,000inpatients in 2002-2003.
*Chairs inMedicine ,Surgery andPsychiatry with theUniversity of Melbourne .
*Chair inNursing withDeakin University
*Associated with theGordon Institute of TAFE Division 2 nursing students.References
*Peter Begg (1990). "Geelong - The First 150 Years". Globe Press. ISBN 0-9592863-5-7
* [http://www.chs.unimelb.edu.au/programs/jnmhu/umfm/biogs/FM00330b.htm History of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences at Melbourne - Geelong Hospital, Barwon Health Clinical School]
* [http://www.barwonhealth.org.au/about/NES/Documents/periop%20brochure.doc Deakin University - Graduate Diploma of Nursing]External links
* [http://www.barwonhealth.org.au/ Barwon Health]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
