New Old Home
Posted: Sunday, 19 August 2007 |
So the old hospital now has new residents and a name that means something. I think there are 18 beds for old people and there is a special alzheimers wing with escape proof doors. The hospital was orginally built over 100years ago in the time of Lady Cathcart who wasnt keen on the idea of a hospital on the island. She stipulated that it had to be built over the winter in the boggiest place she could find. Was it divine intervention or luck that it was the frostiest winter in living memory so the ground was workable instead of being a guagmire. So the hospital was built and run by nuns and called The Sacred Heart Hospital and the statue in the picture stood outside the front entrance. It was a great hospital, very friendly and hospitable. Anyone who married locally visited on their wedding day with their entourage and danced the wedding reel in the central reception area and gave out cake. It was great.
We were all worried that the statue wouldn't be returned when the new home was built on the site of the old hospital. The original building still remains. But it has been painted and looks great. I think Jesus hair was brown though and not white but a few years of being blasted by the wind will soon remedy that.
Comments
how nice to read that small communities in scotland are getting to keep their local hospitals. over here their closing rural hospitals down-even maternity units are closing they say it costs too much to keep them open for 90 to 100 births par annum--result emergency dashes for up to 100kms to give birth!
the weather girl from on the wards
Carol, that sounds very like here...well not here in Orkney, but here in the UK. A&E and mattie departments are falling like flies. A fairly recent cunning plan was to shut Wick mattie unit and send women to Inverness, a not inconsiderable distance, especially in winter.
Flying Cat from an old photo album
FC:thank god i can'tand too old) to produce more offsprigs!! daughter was supposed to be born in Montpellier-we were living in St Chely d'Apcher 300kms north--i decided no way was i going to leave hubby for some days so decided to have the baby in local hospital---beleive or not it was really an old folks home with three double bedrooms for mothers and babbies and a delivery room!! I tooik a hellava risk giving birth there no incubators or anything,but it was good--i always saw the same midwife throughout my pregnancy, which i think is brilliant--and when daughter decided to make her way into the world(the day the doc said she would) it was good-easy i woke up at 4h30 went to the hospital and mlle was born at 6h15--no way i could have been at a real mattie unit in that space of time--when will rthe powers that be start to listen to the wishes of common people??
tws's weather girl from in recuss
I was born in this hospital and one day will return.The place holds some mysteries for me,so will continue to look for other websites about this place.great thrill to read more about it.
jemma from south england
I am a born and bred Uisteach and thought i would contribute to Island Blogging by telling you about life in Uist since there wasn't much happening in the South Uist Blogs. Hope it all makes sense.
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