Yolo County
Biographies
WOODLAND CLINIC HOSPITAL
Situated
in the midst of a farming community, Woodland will probably never be a
manufacturing center. Its rise will in a
great measure depend upon some unusual organization, such as the Woodland
Clinic Hospital, which has been patterned after the famous Mayo Clinic and is
making Woodland the Rochester of the Pacific coast. The story of the development of the local
institution is interesting. It is the
record of patient effort—of steadfastness of ideals, often in the face of
honest criticism by those who do not understand. The organization of the Woodland Sanitarium
dates back to 1911. The founders, Drs.
C. H. and Fred R. Fairchild, Dr. H. D. Lawhead and W. J. Blevins, are still
active in the group. Dr. C. E. Beebe,
later associate and enthusiastic supporter, is deceased. Lawrence H. Stephens, for many years’ manager
and secretary, is still in a business capacity, a valued advisor.
The
Woodland Clinic has been functioning as a group only since 1923. Following the War the present buildings were
constructed and the organization perfected.
The staff of physicians has increased from four to twelve, the new
members being selected because of particular fitness in various
specialties. The offices of the
physicians and surgeons are grouped in the Clinic building, unity being
necessary to insure the highest degree of cooperation.
The
Woodland Clinic Hospital, formerly the Woodland Sanitarium, was completed in
1923. It has a capacity of one hundred
beds and at the time of its construction was considered adequate to care for
the expansion due to the normal growth over a number of years. Complete in every department, modern in every
particular, it became evident in 1926 that by reason of its size it was
inadequate and plans were immediately begun, looking to its replacement by a
modern fireproof structure of several times its capacity.
These
plans were completed and the first unit of this modern hospital was ready for
use July 26, 1927. It is planned that,
as the growth necessitates, other units will be added until on completion the
Woodland Clinic Hospital will stand as a beautiful, modern, three-story
structure with the administration building in the center, flanked by two wings
on either side. Complete in every department,
with facilities for all modern scientific methods of investigation, and under
the direction of specialists prompted by the ideal of service, the future of
the Woodland Clinic is not in doubt, and its possible importance as an economic
factor in the community can scarcely be over-estimated.
The
repeated Class A rating—the highest that can be given by the hospital committee
of the American College of Surgeons—speaks as strongly for the moral and
scientific stability of the institution as does the beautiful building for its
material advancement.
Financially,
the Woodland Clinic has an important bearing on Woodland and Yolo County as a
whole because of several important reasons.
The Woodland Clinic employs one hundred and twenty-five persons daily. The monthly pay-roll is approximately eighteen
thousand dollars or over two hundred thousand dollars yearly. Expenditures of the Woodland Clinic for the
year 1925 amounted to three hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars, ninety
per cent of which passed through the hands of Woodland and Yolo County
merchants. With the completion of new
additions, more help will be employed with a larger pay-roll resulting. Expenditures for supplies will be much
greater, and as the capacity of the institution will be more than doubled,
yearly expenditures will run well over the million dollar mark within a few
years. With the success of the Woodland
Clinic assured, Yolo business men may well look forward to increasing business
during the coming years and this increase is only limited as the growth of the
institution is limited.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 414-415. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Yolo County Biographies