An Oasis for the Injured
As Aberdeen’s mills and logging camps expanded, the Dominican Sisters stepped in to provide vital medical care for an increasingly dangerous industrial front.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
One of the best and most important institutions in Aberdeen is the hospital established here this last summer by the Dominican sisters, of New York. It is calculated to do great good on account of the accidents resulting from the many mills and logging camps that are in continual operation in this Grays harbor country. The sisters at present occupy three frame buildings, but the plans have just been completed for a large and commodious brick structure that will be built at once. From October 1st to December 31st, twenty-one patients were treated in the hospital, coming from all parts of the harbor. In almost every instance, the patients were suffering from accidental injuries.
“In almost every instance, the patients were suffering from accidental injuries.”
This reflects the stark reality of the 'timber beast' era, where the human cost of the lumber industry was borne by private institutions filling the vacuum left by the lack of corporate or government medical safety nets.
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