IHM June 2020 Volume 4, Issue 2 Chairman: M. Parcell IPSWICH HOSPITAL MUSEUM Inc. Committee : Secretary: J. Kingston Treasurer: C. Marre Chairman’s Chatterings Hospital on Fire How ironic that the year that the World Health Organization designates 2020 as the year of th the nurse in honour of the 200 anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the entire world would be in the grip of a Covid 19 pandemic. Nurses this year have been one of the first lines of defence in managing this pandemic. During the height of the Covid pandemic our nurses have played an important role, not just in caring for people who were suspected of having contracted this disease but also in a They were soon urged to clear the area much more preventative role. Our Contact as the building's brick wall appeared to Tracing team of nurses were our absolute first flex, prompting fears it could collapse line of defence when it came to Covid 19. ire almost destroyed Ipswich due to the extreme heat inside. Nurses that work in the contact tracing unit have two very important functions. They F Hospital’s oldest building more Some wards were evacuated, with typically are the first healthcare workers to than 15 years ago. patients gathering outside the Renal contact people to inform them of their disease Dialysis Unit on Chelmsford Avenue. status. Being the first person to deliver On February 6, 2005 a massive fire More than 55 fire fighters from six crews shocking news can always be difficult and it erupted in the heritage-listed Jubilee were called in to help fight the blaze. requires compassion and patience as people Building about 5.20pm, according to The fire was brought under control process the news of their disease status. The reports, and spread rapidly, blowing out contact tracer nurses gently assist people to about 6.30pm. understand what steps are required to ensure windows and gutting the two top floors Ipswich police inspector Dominic that the disease is not transmitted to others, of the Court Street building. McHugh said, "The fire looked a lot more and also provide advice on how to access care. spectacular than it was because the old The second main role of the contact tracer The tin roof collapsed as flames leapt nurse is then to work with the infected person from the top floor about 5.40pm. building (which was built in 1887) really to carefully step out all the interactions/ Dense, black smoke attracted scores of produced a lot of smoke," Insp McHugh contacts they have had with people, places etc. onlookers from throughout Ipswich. said. during their infectious period. This is "(Emergency crews) did a fantastic job painstaking work and requires tenacity and working together to control the fire and diligence. Once the contact tracers have a evacuate people from the hospital." picture of the infected persons movements Queensland Times 7 February 2005 during their infectious stage the contact tracer then has the arduous task of making contact with each person to advise them to undertake testing as well as providing advice on how they Fowlhouse Blaze should self-quarantine whilst they await test results. As you could imagine contact tracers ome workmen were burning can contact up to ninety different people, S rubbish at the hospital when a places for a single incident. spark from the fire started a patch of So whilst our nurses who work in the high grass burning near the fowl house, pressure areas of the Emergency Department about 75yds. from the nurses' and the Intensive Care Unit should be quarters. The men almost had the regularly praised, it should be recognised that Small Fire in Children’s Ward blaze under control with wet bags, during this pandemic I think our true hild patients at the Ipswich Gen- healthcare heroes have been the contact when it extended to the fowlhouse, tracing nurses who quietly worked to track, C eral Hospital were given a chance and some surrounding bushes. They contain and educate infected people who were to see the Ipswich Fire Brigade in action summoned the Ipswich Fire Brigade not even aware they were a risk to others. yesterday when an electrical fault in a which arrived quickly and soon I imagine that Florence would have loved to light in their ward started a small fire. have a team of contact tracers to assist her in extinguished the flames, but the improving the impact on the spread of disease. The children were entertained while fowlhouse was completely I am sure that Florence who was an advocate the brigade set about extinguishing the destroyed. From the centre of the for simple infection prevention techniques such city it seemed as though the blaze as frequent hand washing, clean sheets and fire which burnt a part of the ceiling reducing over crowding would be pleased that around the light and a ceiling batten. was at the nurses' quarters, and a we are returning to such basic tenets of large crowd flocked up Nicholas Street Queensland Times 6 June 1974 cleanliness. to the top of Denmark Hill. Queensland Times 8 October 1931 Page 2 Museum Matters Jubilee History honoured by naming the new Rising from the Ashes jubilee year. Member for Ipswich Rachel he Jubilee Building, school the “A.E. Wilcox our years after it was Nolan said it was a beautiful nearly destroyed by fire School of Nursing”. nearly razed the Jubilee T F building that wasn't getting in 2005, is the only original The school was opened in Building reopened. the best use when the fire Fire insurance money building on the Ipswich 1968 by Health Minister happened on February 6, helped pay for the Hospital campus. Douglas Tooth. Miss Wilcox 2005. restoration and travelled from Sydney, at the “I certainly thought there It was built in 1887 as the modernisation of the board’s expense, to attend was no prospect of doing Jubilee Children's Ward, to distinctive red brick building the ceremony. anything but knock down commemorate the Silver that once served as a the remaining walls (after Jubilee of Queen Victoria, One room on the bottom floor children's ward and nurses' the fire),” she said. with just a single storey. A of the floor was dedicated the quarters. “This is a project that's been second storey was added in “Catherine Evans Memorial Many of the former nurses really well done. 1908. Reference Library” in honour who lived in the Court “It's tremendously respectful of Sr Evans who spent many Street building as students In 1964 the hospital board of the architecture.” years as doyen of the male attended its re-opening on requested that loan funds be Brisbane student architect 26 June 2009. set aside to convert the surgical ward and in whose Ben Doolan, from the firm ground floor of the Jubilee memory also an award was Miss Margaret Macfarlane S2F, was involved in the building for use as a School annually given to an began and ended her renovation. of Nursing and to provide extraordinary nurse of each nursing career in the “The building was severely medical officers’ quarters on graduating class from 1956 building, first as a student damaged by fire - the timber the top floor. The Health until 1992. in 1946 and finally as framing was still here,” he Director of Nursing. Department agreed but This room now houses the said. “Beginners always lived in funds were not made Ipswich Hospital Museum. “All we were left with was this building,” she said. available until 1967. the brick shell of the A demonstration ward was “We slept on the open building.” The board decided that the added on the top floor in verandah. Former nurses said the back retiring Matron should be 1971. “I was a country kid - it of the building was known didn't occur to me to be as “onion alley”, supposedly The Jubilee scared.” because the residents wept a Building, c. 1951, Ms Macfarlane said she was lot. before it was gutted “delighted” by the building's by fire in 2005. transformation into a Extracted from the Queensland training centre. Times 27 June 2009 Public subscriptions funded the old building in the 1880s, and it was opened during Queen Victoria's Jubilee Building Timeline 1887 Jubilee Ward erected. One level Children’s Ward 1907/8 Jubilee 2nd storey commenced and front façade altered 1909 Jubilee 2nd Storey opened as nurses accommodation 1922 Conversion from gas to electric lighting, in Jubilee building and Nurses quarters, completed by 1923 1935 Sunshine ward opened 27 July. Two storey brick for 44 patients and an operating theatre. Jubilee used as nurses’ quarters. 1965 Jubilee Building interior renovation, tiered lecture room, Matron’s flat 1982 Listed Significant Building in “Ipswich Heritage Study” 1996 Recommended Listing Heritage Act 1992,in Female Original building “Queensland Health Heritage Survey”, Ward Male Ward October 1996 2005 Jubilee Building top floor and roof The Jubilee Building today, beautifully restored. The front destroyed by fire. doors open into the Ipswich Hospital Museum but access to 2008 Jubilee Building rebuild commenced the building is from the side entrance on the left. 2009 Jubilee Building rebuild completed. Museum Matters Page 3 Left: Jubilee Building, the first children’s ward, in 1889. Right: The plans show the female ward at the bottom (nearest the front door) and then the male ward, both with six beds. At the top of the plan is the diptheria ward with four beds separated from the other wards by a nurses’ room and linen closet. Note the two fireplaces.