Tuomey Hospital Photo Gallery

By SAMMY WAY
Item Researcher / Archivist
sway@theitem.com

Wikipedia Encyclopedia defines a hospital as "an institution for health care providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often but not always providing for longer-term patient stays." History reminds us that hospitals were often created and financed by religious and charitable individuals. The large healthcare systems of today are staffed with physicians, surgeons and nurses in contrast to those medical services once provided by religious orders and compassionate volunteers.

The word hospital is derived from the Latin term hospes which is also the root word for hotel and hospitality. The most common form of medical facility is referred to as a general hospital, which is designed to treat illness and injury and usually features an emergency room for immediate medical care. Doctors and healthcare facilities have always been an integral part of every community during the settlement of America. The majority of early medical care was most often rendered by local "bleeders," who could be found at your local barbershop and practical nurses, who were kept busy tending to accidents and assisting with the numerous childbirths throughout the community. Physicians were often difficult to find outside the large urban centers in colonial America. As their numbers grew many doctors began to locate in smaller towns where such services were desperately needed.

One of the first physicians of note in Sumter was Dr. William Wallace Anderson (1789-1864), who became the first doctor to remove a cancerous jawbone; in his case, from a slave of Thomas Sumter. Anderson was followed by many physicians including his son William Wallace, Drs. S. C. and C.R.F. Baker, and Dr. J.J. Bossard, who later partnered with Dr. Alexander Dick and Dr. Baker to form the 10-bed Baker-Dick Infirmary, which was built in 1894 on Republican Street later known as Hampton Avenue.

Dr. J.J. Bossard  1824-1903

In that same year Dr. Julius Mood opened a clinic which would later become a part of the Sumter Hospital. Mood, in addition to his medical practice, worked as the editor of the Watchman and True Southron newspaper.

The clinics were financed by the doctors with the fees they collected from their patients, and thus they were referred to as "private institutions." Those who were sick or injured were always admitted to the facilities and many were often treated without charge. Most of Sumter's nurses received their training in these infirmaries under the guidance and direction of the physicians. In 1897 Anna Simpson was appointed Sumter's first superintendent of nurses by Dr. Mood. Dr. C.P. Osteen joined the Mood Infirmary in 1900 and formed a partnership that lasted until 1911. Mood's son, Dr. H. A. Mood joined his father's practice, thus increasing the number of patients the Infirmary could serve dramatically.

In 1908 Doctors Baker and Dick would add Doctors H.M. Stuckey, Walter Cheyne and Archie China to their staff, thereby creating a new facility known as The Sumter Hospital. The new building, which operated as a private institution, had 30 beds. This new facility included a wing designated to the treatment of African-Americans and was financed and built by the doctors themselves.

The following article was printed in the Evening News on Dec. 1, 1904, concerning the construction of the new hospital: "Those who have looked at the walls going up on West Calhoun Street will see that they are not of wood or brick, but they appear to be of a dull colored stone. But they are not of stone; they are dirt. The Sumter Hospital will be a house built of sand. However, this sand house has been worked by a process whereby it has the hardness of granite, and the longer it stands, the harder and more compact it becomes." The material had several economic benefits including lower cost, weight, less insurance, less paint and is both insect and mice resistant. This process of mixing sand and cement was a construction process unique in the United States at the time.

Becoming a nurse ceremony held in the 1920's

In 1901 the Sumter Training School for Nurses became a reality. Sumter was now able to prepare its own supply of nurses, and with Robert O. Purdy serving as president the school was able to graduate seven qualified nurses between 1902 and 1905. In order to eliminate the duplication of services and lower the cost of operation, the Mood Infirmary consolidated with the Sumter Hospital in 1913. The new hospital received the equipment and furnishings from the infirmary, and in return Mood was given stock in the new Sumter Hospital.

Neill O'Donnell  1859-1937

The hospital received an unexpected financial boost with the death of Timothy J. Tuomey, a public-minded citizen, in 1897. Tuomey left his considerable assets to the city earmarked for the "establishment and maintenance" of a hospital. This facility was to be known as The Tuomey Hospital, and after the death of his wife, Ella Tuomey, a perpetual endowment, including Bell's Mill Plantation, was established to continue support for this institution. Tuomey's will specified that the new hospital was to be managed by a "Board of Trustees," three of whom were named as life members with perpetual succession. The mayor and two councilmen were named to the board, these six electing a seventh from the county. The original life members mentioned in the will were Col. R.D. Lee, Neill O'Donnell, and Dr. S.C. Baker. The wishes of Tuomey have continued to be honored, and the hospital continues to be administered in this manner.

The Board of Trustees purchased the Sumter Hospital on Aug. 1, 1913, with the name being changed to "The Tuomey Hospital," with the doctors, who were the original owners, becoming the first medical staff. The facility was listed as a private charitable institution according to the laws of South Carolina. The Tuomey Hospital School of Nursing became a part of the hospital in 1914 and graduated its first class in 1916. The estate of Neill O'Donnell, Tuomey's brother-in-law, left another endowment to the hospital following his death in 1937. A larger nurses home was constructed in 1938, and the board named the nurses' residence The "Neil O'Donnell Residence for Nurses" in honor of his serving more than 25 years as a hospital trustee. In 1945 the Tuomey trustees secured a substantial grant from the federal government, and along with contributions and hospital funds constructed a maternity wing with diagnostic departments on the ground floor.

Tuomey Ambulance service in 1975

In 1961 the "old Tuomey Hospital," formerly the Sumter Hospital, was earmarked for demolition. Construction was to begin on a new four-story wing. The original structure was erected at a cost of $20,000 and was a fully equipped facility built to resemble the celebrated Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. The original structure featured state-of-the-art equipment, including electric call buttons and brass and iron beds with woven wire springs. The lighting comprised both gas and electric fixtures. The cost of staying in this facility was usually $10, a week ranging in some cases as high as $25. The first floor of the hospital was devoted to typhoid fever cases and featured the facility's x-Ray machine. In the rear of this level was a ward dedicated to usage by black male patients. The second floor contained the gynecological department and housed the most desirable rooms. The ward for black females was located directly above the male ward on the first floor. On the third floor was the kitchen, which featured a "Pacific range." All surgical procedures took place on this level in a room illuminated by 16 electric lamps.

Rest and fresh air were considered crucial in the treatment of the patients in 1905, well before the introduction of "miracle drugs." The roof featured a sitting area on a spacious veranda allowing patients the opportunity to relax in the sun. The original Tuomey Hospital was replaced by a new multi-level complex costing approximately $562,000. The nurses' home was moved and renovated in order to comply with the new State Building Codes. This new phase of construction expanded the hospital into a modern 203-bed facility by 1963. As the Sumter community continued to grow so did the health needs of its populace. Tuomey Hospital would undergo substantial expansions in the last few decades. The Tuomey Healthcare System endeavors to provide Sumter's citizens with the finest health care utilizing the most modern equipment and technology available.

Staffed by a motivated and skilled staff, Tuomey Healthcare System, according to a 1961 story in The Item, is "able to offer almost any type of medical assistance or treatment. Located as it is, in the center of a populous agricultural and industrial area, it offers convenient facilities to the people of Sumter and Sumter County."