The old Russell Hospital

By Jack Coley (Contact) | Alex City Outlook

Published Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Due to the fact that I had spent a couple of days in the hospital last week (where the care was excellent and all the staff were so very nice and friendly), my mind went back to the old Russell Hospital.

This noble institution was located exactly where the City Board of Education now stands. It was a rather long two-story brick building with white columns. Most of the patients were on the first floor. The emergency room plus more rooms for patients were located in what seemed like the basement. On the second floor were the living quarters for nurses and other hospital personnel. I do remember that there was a faint but not unpleasant antiseptic odor, and it was very quiet all up and down the hallways.

There were no conversations in the halls, and very few at the nursing stations and those were spoken very softly.

All the nurses absolutely breathed professionalism. They all wore starched white-skirted uniforms with the particular cap of their nursing school and white stockings and white rubber-soled shoes. These ladies moved briskly from bed to bed, checking vitals and administering medication and they meant business. Some of the wonderful nurses that I remember were Miss Maysie McWilliams, a Miss Carmichael, Miss Jennie Parker, Miss Betty Welsh later Mrs. Farmer and she was the most beautiful and my favorite, and Miss Mary Teague later Thomas. At some point, Miss Marguerite Ogletree, who had been doing private duty for some years, came to Russell Hospital and soon became director of nursing, a position she held for many years.

The reason that I have such good and happy memories of the nursing staff is because, when I was born at Russell Hospital, the nurses were so kind and attentive to Mother. Her maternity nurse was Miss Jennie Parker, who would give alcohol rubdowns, come in to check every now and again, took care of the flowers and greet visitors. The other nurses would come and go. The general practice doctor who delivered me was Dr. Street. He charged Daddy $50 and he was paid $5 a week until this debt was cleared.

The next time I was drawn to the hospital was thirteen and a half years later when my much longed-for and beautiful sister was born. I had been rather jealous of all my friends who had siblings and really prayed for one myself. Then, on Oct. 26, 1947, it happened! I was dying to get to the hospital to see her and to be sure that Mother was all right. However, Miss Marguerite Ogletree and others in power instituted a new policy that children under a certain age could not visit the maternity ward. Before I could begin wailing in protest, Miss Ogletree got word to me that if I came around to the outside of a window at the end of the maternity ward, she would bring my precious sister, wrapped in blankets up to her chin, so that I could see her. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and I immediately began all sorts of detailed plans as to how to bring her up. Fortunately for her, this was all taken care of by our parents and a wonderful nurse, Miss Catherine Jacobs, who was later married to Mr. Abraham Shelton.

The first business manager I remember was Mr. Cranford Thornton who had previously worked with my father at the old First National Bank. Mr. Cranford was chosen by Miss Elisabeth Russell Alison. “Miss” Elisabeth really put her heart and soul into the Russell Hospital. As she was Mr. Ben’s youngest child and only daughter, “Miss” Elisabeth fell into this job and she did a great job of running the hospital. After Mr. Cranford and Mr. Bill Brown came here from Atlanta. It is my and many other people’s opinions that Mr. Brown is largely responsible for the Medical Center’s healthy growth and for the good reputation it enjoys today.

The old (to me then) doctors who practiced at the hospital were Dr. T.H. Street, Dr. Virgil Dark, Dr. J.J. Walls and Dr. J Chapman. There was Dr. Foshee from New Site and later, Dr. J.L. Denney came here and was the Avondale Mills doctor.

I thought that we had a fine medical community. After World War II, Dr. Ernest Askin and Dr. Harold Dark came back home to practice medicine in their hometown. The doctors back then made house calls. All you had to do was to call their offices and even in their homes. Such was medical life in the old days.

Jack Coley’s column on Alexander City appears each Thursday in The Alexander City Outlook.

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