The First Emergency Room
The 1920's Sometime in the 1920s, an addition
was made on the back of the hospital to house an X-ray
machine
and an emergency room. In 1921, a young Navy surgeon, Dr.
H.L. Brockmann, joined Dr. Burrus with the assignment
of
establishing a laboratory to provide better diagnostic
facilities. After the arrival of an ear, nose and throat
(ENT) specialist
and a general surgeon during the 1920's, a new, modern
operating suite was added. High Point had 28,000 residents.
The Depression By the time the banks closed in 1929,
the Hospital deeply felt the Depression. Hospital income
was at
its lowest point in history, and there were anxious moments
when the doors nearly closed. Nurses were provided food
and
lodging instead of salaries, and local ENT specialist, Dr.
O.B. Bonner, helped pull the Hospital through by sending
his
tonsillectomy patients to the hospital instead of doing the
surgeries in his office.
