Lakewood Lore

Lakewood Hospital

Graber's dream became city's 410-bed hospital

Lakewood Hospital, whose history is a saga of growth and service to the community, like most big institutions had a small beginning.

It was founded in a double frame home on Detroit at Belle in 1907 by a few physicians under the leadership of Dr. C. Lee Graber. The building was constructed so that it could be converted into a two-family residence in the event the hospital project went awry.

Dr. Graber, who mortgaged his own house to obtain funds for the venture, served as chief of surgery, and M. Alice Brooks, a registered nurse, was superintendant. There were 15 beds.

From the outset, there was a need for supplemental help. Within a few months, some community-spirited women formed the Lakewood Hospital Charitable Organization to maintain three charity beds and provide other assistance.

In 1911, the hospital set up the Kate Castle Rhodes Dispensary, first located on Lakewood's Dowd Street. The aim was to supply medical care and information to combat a high death rate among infants in the city's Carbon District. A decade later the dispensary became the hospital's out-patient treatment center.

During; the early days the Cotabish Charitable Fund gave a big boost to the hospital's capital improvement campaigns. It was established by Vida Cotabish, daughter of Nelson Cotabish, f'irst Lakewood mayor under the city form of government.

In 1913, Graber sold the hospital to the Lakewood Public Hospital Co., which ran it as a private, non-profit operation until l931, when it was given to the city. However, the doctor continued as chief surgeon until 1948. He died in 1954 at age 80.

In the second decade of the century, when patient cost per day was a mere $2.25, it became apparent that the size of the existing facility was inadequate. A fund-raising drive resulted in a new four-story, brick edifice, opened in 1917. It faced Detroit Avenue in front of the original structure and had 85 beds. The initial building, was then used to house student nurses of the hospital's school of nursing, which had been formed in l910 and continued until 1937.

During the flu epidemic of 1919, the hospital was unable to handle all of those stricken. Its overflow was dispatched to the former Robert R.. Rhodes estate, which at that time had been only recently bought by the city. In 1920, the Rhodes home, where Lakewood Park is now, became city hall. It was razed after the current city hall was completed in 1959.

In 1939-40, another wing was added to the hospital, and by the l950s, a new expansion extended farther up Belle and provided a new entrance. During the mid-l960s growth continued with a $3.8 million L-shaped-addition.

In the early '80s, a construction and renovation program totaling $27 million was begun. It included the addition of an atrium, expansion of intensive and outreach care areas, and increased space for radiology, lab and emergency rooms.

Two years ago, after 56 years of public operation, the hospital was again privatized. Today, there is a record 410 beds, with more specialized services than ever before and plans under way to reopen the obstetrical-maternity unit, which was closed in 1972.

This article appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post October 5, 1989. Reprinted with permission.

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