Samaritan Hospital expands in 1949

OK, the facts are a bit sketchy from this article, but it was a beginning. The main photo this week is a blueprint of what was, apparently, the beginning of Samaritan Hospital. No where in the article does it indicate the address, but it must be what we called the old barracks from the Moses Lake Army Air Base, which was converted into a hospital.

From the article: “Construction bids, totaling $16,790.62 were awarded last night by the hospital district directors for remodeling the former medical-dental building into an 11-bed hospital.”

The hospital was small for sure. It is said the delivery room was so small, the doctor had to back into the room first, with the expectant mother to follow.

This hospital was a beginning. Remember, before this, the nearest hospital was in Ephrata, where many of my 1965 high school classmates were born, along with me, in 1947. After Samaritan moved to the hill, the building known as the old hospital became the Moses Lake Library.