This brick wall was erected to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Masterton Hospital in 1979.
The first hospital was located across Te Ore Ore Rd from the current hospital & operated between January 1879 & December 1907. Hospital number two is located at the southern end of Selina Sutherland Drive & is now essentially abandonded. The current hospital is number three within Masterton.
Miss Selina Sutherland (1839–1909) is credited as the founder of Masterton Hospital. Selina Sutherland had studied medicine privately with the intention of becoming a nurse. In New Zealand she was able to realise this ambition as the central Wairarapa area had neither a doctor nor a hospital. She skilfully tended the sick, both Maori and Pakeha, riding on horseback through any weather over rough tracks and difficult roads. She advised sheepstation owners to improve the often overcrowded and unhygienic accommodation provided for their workers. In 1874, during a typhoid epidemic in New Zealand, she tended six men at Alfredton and single-handedly nursed them back to health. In 1877 she put forward the idea of building a hospital in Masterton, and led a committee of citizens who planned and raised the money. She collected most of the £500 required, soliciting money from as far afield as Wellington.
Some Milestones.
First Hospital;
1879 - Masterton Hospital opened in January at a cost of £510 with 14 beds.
- Miss Lyons, the first matron was employed after she was trained by Florence Nightingale.
- Mrs. Bailey, the hospitals first patient, admitted in early February. On February 18th the hospital committee minutes state that it was decided "no longer to supply Mrs. Bailey with provisions." She was subsequently re-admitted to hospital in August the same year.
1889 - 46 patient admissions for the year.
1897 - Student nurses (known as 'probationers') appointed to the staff.
1900 - State registration of nurses began.
1904 - Hospital site was sold after the facilities were condemned as being unsuitable for asceptic surgery by the assistant Health Officer. The land was sold for £800 at public auction. It later became the home of the Lansdowne School Headmaster.
Second Hospital;
1905 - Site was purchased on October 18th.
1906 - The building tender was accepted for a new 24 bed Masterton Hospital at a cost of £8 233. (The actual cost finished up at £9 100.)
- The hospital became a training school for student nurses.
1907 - The first ambulance was purchased at a total cost of £140. This horse-drawn brougham was placed in the care of Messrs. Fly & Young who were contracted to provide the horse & driver. For this service they received 7s. 6d for each call within the town borough.
- Hospital staffing levels had now grown to four doctors, one matron, three nurses, seven probationers, one cook, one assistant cook, two housemaids, one laundress & one porter.
1909 - Miss Isla Stewart of Kopuaranga became the first registered nurse to graduate from Masterton Hospital.
1910 - A tent was erected on hospital grounds for the use of the night nurses.
1912 - Building tender accepted for an eight bed nurses home & x-ray room.
1917 - The first motorised ambulance was purchased.
circa 1932 - Electricity was introduced to the hospital for cooking, lighting & heating. This system was later adopted by all public hospitals in NZ.
1936 - Miss Kathleen Kerins was appointed as the first district nurse. Her days began around 5.30 am with visits to diabetic patients before daily mass & often finished around 9pm. She worked seven days a week with rounds completed by bicycle for the first year. In 1937 she was provided with a car. She served in this position until retiring 24 years later in 1960.
1938 - A new 56 bed nurses home was opened by the wife of the Govenor General, Lady Galway.
- A new ward to cater for the polio epidemic was built in 48 hours by local townsfolk volunteers.
1963 - The three storey ward block was opened by the Govenor General, Lord Bernard Fergusson.
1977 - Masterton Hospital made world history by being the first hospital to go live on a nationwide admission/discharge Health Services computer system.
- Hospital now up to 206 beds with 4 400 patient admissions for the year.
1995 - Selina Sutherland private hospital was established. It is one of only two private hospitals in New Zealand located within a public hospital.
Third Hospital;
2006 - New 92 bed Wairarapa Hospital opened at a cost of $30 million.
Source; Masterton Hospital 1879 -1979 by C.J. Carle.