Pat Cohan, RN, with an antique Midwife's Bag and a Nightingale Lamp.
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Hospital Week May 7-11
Public invited to view antique hospital artifact collection
April 26, 2007
St. John’s Lutheran Hospital in Libby is celebrating Hospital Week May 7 through the 11th. “Hospital week is an annual celebration of hospital services all over our nation,” commented KC Hoyer, Marketing Manager at St. John’s. “Hospital Week has been traditionally celebrated in-house, with the exception of our 2nd & 4th grade tours, but this year we are going to do a few things differently and include the public in our celebration.”
This year’s, Hospital Week theme, “Care you count on, people you trust,” honors hospital employees and the confidence they inspire within our communities. The celebration of Hospital Week is a reminder of the crucial role hospitals play, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, to provide the best in health care for the communities they serve.
According to Hoyer, the main hallway at St. John’s will be transformed into a museum of hospital antiquities, courtesy of Mike and Pat Cohan, RN. “Beginning Monday, May 7th, we welcome our community friends and neighbors to come in and enjoy these nostalgic pieces of our past,” said Hoyer. “You wouldn’t necessarily consider a hospital as a place to go for a fun, educational outing, but that’s just what we will be the entire week of May 7-11th .”
Mike and Pat Cohan initiated this fascinating collection over 25 years ago when Pat found a 19th century “Nightingale Lamp” at a flea market. “The lamp is a small porcelain whale oil lamp that was used by nurses during their nighttime rounds and has been the symbol of nursing for years,” said Pat. “Since that time the collection has expanded to cover many different hospital departments, because the chores and tasks now done by other departments were originally done by either the doctors or, more commonly, the nurses. The Cohan’s collection has items that range from hand-blown medicine cups to apothecary measures to midwife kits. The age of the items is from early 19th century to early 20th century.”
A cross section of this glimpse into the past will be on public display in the main lobby of St. John’s Lutheran Hospital during hospital week May 7-11.
Story and photo courtesy K C Hoyer, St. John’s Lutheran Hospital
Related Links:
St. John's Lutheran Hospital, www.sjlh.com
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