Thursday, July 25, 2013

Behind the Scenes at Ellis Hospital


Bottles are sterilized and filled with baby formula in Ellis Hospital's formula room, 1955. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection. 

When we think of people who work in hospitals, many of us think of the doctors, nurses, and other medical support staff that we see when we are in a hospital as a patient or visitor. When we see historic photographs of hospitals, the images that we see also tend to show us the doctors and nurses that operated on patients, tended to them, and made them well. But in addition to the medical personnel that are integral to the operation of hospitals, many people also work behind the scenes to keep the hospital running smoothly -- people who clean floors, prepare meals, do laundry, wash dishes, collect garbage, answer telephones, tend to the hospital grounds, type, sew uniforms, repair machinery, receive deliveries . . . the list goes on and on. From a recently-received collection of historical photographs and documents from Ellis Hospital, here are just a few images of people at work behind the scenes at Ellis Hospital, from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s.


Ellis Hospital employee Ronald Staler operates a forklift in the hospital's stockroom. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection.  

Two workers, E. Reali and J. Pella, fold sheets in the Ellis Hospital laundry, ca. 1955. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection. 

At work in an office at Ellis Hospital in 1977. Left to right: Ellen Mulyca, clerk typist; Russell Dunn, manager of patient and family services; Betty Lou Mikenas, secretary. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection. 

Dishwashers at work in the food service section of Ellis Hospital, ca. 1955. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection.  

At work in the sewing room at Ellis Hospital in 1956. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection. 

In this 1980 photograph, maintenance supervisor Domenic Adams waters plants he is growing to be planted on the Ellis Hospital grounds. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection. 

Telephone operators at work at the switchboard, ca. 1950s. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection. 


Pressing uniforms in the Ellis Hospital laundry, ca. 1950s. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection. 

Harry Hallam (left) and Lugene Kettner, employees from the maintenance department at Ellis Hospital, at work in 1975. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection. 


Food service workers prepare meals to be delivered to patients, ca. 1960s. Photograph from Ellis Hospital Collection.  

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