Journal: Workhouse Infirmaries
May 12th 1866-
Today begins my journal series about the daily life and conditions in the workhouse infirmaries. I will be going in and observing, asking questions to nurses and patients about what it’s like to be in the infirmary ward of the workhouse, what kinds of illness they see, how is the patient care, how sanitary it is, and just get an overall look and understanding from the outside looking in. I decided to choose this field to look into and write about so maybe eventually one day my work can be published and people who have no idea what life outside theirs looks like can get a glimpse in.
July 19th, 1865-
Today was the day. I went and found my first workhouse infirmary and started my search and collection of information. I walked in and right away a smell hits you like a brick wall. It is indescribable. One nurse must have seen my reaction and leans over to me and goes “smell is enough to knock you down, huh?.” Once I got passed the entry way and accepted the smell as I guess every other individual in that room has become accustomed to, I moved to a corner of the room and just observed. Today was simply an observation day to get a picture in my mind of what I was getting myself into. Well from what I saw the infirmary room wasn’t of much size, it was a small block of the whole workhouse to care for the sick. The room was badly ventilated and you could tell that it was very unsanitary. Patient beds were right next to each other with barely any room in between. This is what I took In, I didn’t ask for any information, I didn’t speak with any patients, I simply walked in, announced myself as a journalist who was reporting and stood and observed. Day one complete.
September 8th, 1865
Today was my second day of the infirmaries. Today along with observation I performed a little more information seeking. I decided to do a little research into the life of a nurse there; what it’s like to be in her position. I asked her a couple questions and she informed me that she takes care of all these people of all different cases even though her medical background is pretty poor. She said that her and all of her co-workers struggled with their jobs because most of them couldn’t even read so when looking at medicine bottles and things along those lines they couldn’t really perform to accuracy. She also informed me that it was pretty common for the nurses to be intoxicated during the workday and no one was really afraid to have a little “liquid medication” for themselves. I left after speaking with her one day. I’ve been sitting and recalling on what the nurse had to tell me and I’m pretty surprised. I didn’t know that these are the sorts of people providing medical care. Now I'm interested to take my next look in.
November 23rd, 1866
Day three I decided to talk to a different nurse and hear what she had to say about the type of patients they see, how many people typically come in and out and how the workhouse infirmary system works with registration and such. She told me that there had been a rise in the level of destitution, which increased the pressure on the workhouses, which essentially increased the pressure on them. More became sick and in need of medical attention. She told me about this Poor Law Board that was put intact by the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, which essentially made relief to the poor easily accessible so more of these less eligible people were entering these workhouses and then needing help. She said with the influx, paupers were classified into groups and were separated. Children were moved out of workhouses and put into schools. She said that those who were “dangerous lunatics” and the mentally ill were removed and put in assylums. Dependent on type of disease presented within the people, she said they were separated into different wards or transferred to hospitals. I asked her what kind of diseases or conditions they saw and she looked at me like I was crazy. She told me that they’ve pretty much seen anything, broken legs, measles, to all the different types of fevers, to blindness, to small pox and everything in between. She said that different categories of patients from all these diseases were mixed together and at points sometimes in the same beds. I made a comment on the large number of people that were placed in these infirmaries and she told me I should have seen it at the time of the outbreak of the epidemic of tuberculosis, the infirmaries at that time were completely exhausted and didn’t even know what to do about the people who walked through their doors. She further elaborated on how the infirmary ward was no longer the smallest part of the whole workhouse, and how the accommodations and repairs were not coming in as quick as the people. I went home and thought to myself, could you imagine working in a place with that many people from all over coming in and out and having everything be spread. And then I thought, that’s why there’s constantly more sickness going around these workhouses; due to the poor sanitation of the infirmary wards once one person cures one thing they will catch the next and spread that. I truly didn’t realize the extent to the unpleasant conditions people are going through.
February 8th, 1867
When I was thinking about starting to write a piece of work on these workhouse infirmaries, I thought maybe I should go back one more time to see if conditions have changed because I’ve heard some stuff recently while walking around town and I’d like to see if it is true. I also think it would be cool to add a little comparing and contrasting to my journalism to give my readers a taste of that change that has occurred. I went back to the infirmary, and was re-directed to a different building I hadn’t been in before. I went up to one of the nurses I had previously spoken with to ask what had changed and why I was in a different place. She told me that over the past couple of months with unemployment rates growing there had been another influx of people in the workhouses and lead to crowding which obviously led to more illness and the needs for more beds and care. She had told me that they were treating more patients than the hospitals were. She said that the infirmaries were basically assuming the functions of true hospitals rather than just a “sick ward” at a workhouse. This caused a change in the construction. She said detached infirmaries were built and that was what we were currently standing in. She showed me that there were larger rooms and additional facilities. She said that there are still links and ties to the central facilities of the workhouses but now the accommodations for the sick weren’t the main concern. She told me that workhouses were doing this on their own until the Metropolitan Law Amendment Act of 1867 was passed that forced the removal of such medical facilities out of the workhouse to create it’s own section/building. When I got home from this visit with the nurse, I couldn’t believe all of the change that had occurred. I tried to think of the pros and cons and how it could help. Possible questions like maybe since it’s in a separate facility it will be more sanitary? Maybe in the future there will be more restrictions on who can enter because it’s now separated? These are things that may in time will change and I can add to my report later on but for now I think I have just the right amount of information to beginning my writing on workhouse infirmaries.
Today begins my journal series about the daily life and conditions in the workhouse infirmaries. I will be going in and observing, asking questions to nurses and patients about what it’s like to be in the infirmary ward of the workhouse, what kinds of illness they see, how is the patient care, how sanitary it is, and just get an overall look and understanding from the outside looking in. I decided to choose this field to look into and write about so maybe eventually one day my work can be published and people who have no idea what life outside theirs looks like can get a glimpse in.
July 19th, 1865-
Today was the day. I went and found my first workhouse infirmary and started my search and collection of information. I walked in and right away a smell hits you like a brick wall. It is indescribable. One nurse must have seen my reaction and leans over to me and goes “smell is enough to knock you down, huh?.” Once I got passed the entry way and accepted the smell as I guess every other individual in that room has become accustomed to, I moved to a corner of the room and just observed. Today was simply an observation day to get a picture in my mind of what I was getting myself into. Well from what I saw the infirmary room wasn’t of much size, it was a small block of the whole workhouse to care for the sick. The room was badly ventilated and you could tell that it was very unsanitary. Patient beds were right next to each other with barely any room in between. This is what I took In, I didn’t ask for any information, I didn’t speak with any patients, I simply walked in, announced myself as a journalist who was reporting and stood and observed. Day one complete.
September 8th, 1865
Today was my second day of the infirmaries. Today along with observation I performed a little more information seeking. I decided to do a little research into the life of a nurse there; what it’s like to be in her position. I asked her a couple questions and she informed me that she takes care of all these people of all different cases even though her medical background is pretty poor. She said that her and all of her co-workers struggled with their jobs because most of them couldn’t even read so when looking at medicine bottles and things along those lines they couldn’t really perform to accuracy. She also informed me that it was pretty common for the nurses to be intoxicated during the workday and no one was really afraid to have a little “liquid medication” for themselves. I left after speaking with her one day. I’ve been sitting and recalling on what the nurse had to tell me and I’m pretty surprised. I didn’t know that these are the sorts of people providing medical care. Now I'm interested to take my next look in.
November 23rd, 1866
Day three I decided to talk to a different nurse and hear what she had to say about the type of patients they see, how many people typically come in and out and how the workhouse infirmary system works with registration and such. She told me that there had been a rise in the level of destitution, which increased the pressure on the workhouses, which essentially increased the pressure on them. More became sick and in need of medical attention. She told me about this Poor Law Board that was put intact by the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, which essentially made relief to the poor easily accessible so more of these less eligible people were entering these workhouses and then needing help. She said with the influx, paupers were classified into groups and were separated. Children were moved out of workhouses and put into schools. She said that those who were “dangerous lunatics” and the mentally ill were removed and put in assylums. Dependent on type of disease presented within the people, she said they were separated into different wards or transferred to hospitals. I asked her what kind of diseases or conditions they saw and she looked at me like I was crazy. She told me that they’ve pretty much seen anything, broken legs, measles, to all the different types of fevers, to blindness, to small pox and everything in between. She said that different categories of patients from all these diseases were mixed together and at points sometimes in the same beds. I made a comment on the large number of people that were placed in these infirmaries and she told me I should have seen it at the time of the outbreak of the epidemic of tuberculosis, the infirmaries at that time were completely exhausted and didn’t even know what to do about the people who walked through their doors. She further elaborated on how the infirmary ward was no longer the smallest part of the whole workhouse, and how the accommodations and repairs were not coming in as quick as the people. I went home and thought to myself, could you imagine working in a place with that many people from all over coming in and out and having everything be spread. And then I thought, that’s why there’s constantly more sickness going around these workhouses; due to the poor sanitation of the infirmary wards once one person cures one thing they will catch the next and spread that. I truly didn’t realize the extent to the unpleasant conditions people are going through.
February 8th, 1867
When I was thinking about starting to write a piece of work on these workhouse infirmaries, I thought maybe I should go back one more time to see if conditions have changed because I’ve heard some stuff recently while walking around town and I’d like to see if it is true. I also think it would be cool to add a little comparing and contrasting to my journalism to give my readers a taste of that change that has occurred. I went back to the infirmary, and was re-directed to a different building I hadn’t been in before. I went up to one of the nurses I had previously spoken with to ask what had changed and why I was in a different place. She told me that over the past couple of months with unemployment rates growing there had been another influx of people in the workhouses and lead to crowding which obviously led to more illness and the needs for more beds and care. She had told me that they were treating more patients than the hospitals were. She said that the infirmaries were basically assuming the functions of true hospitals rather than just a “sick ward” at a workhouse. This caused a change in the construction. She said detached infirmaries were built and that was what we were currently standing in. She showed me that there were larger rooms and additional facilities. She said that there are still links and ties to the central facilities of the workhouses but now the accommodations for the sick weren’t the main concern. She told me that workhouses were doing this on their own until the Metropolitan Law Amendment Act of 1867 was passed that forced the removal of such medical facilities out of the workhouse to create it’s own section/building. When I got home from this visit with the nurse, I couldn’t believe all of the change that had occurred. I tried to think of the pros and cons and how it could help. Possible questions like maybe since it’s in a separate facility it will be more sanitary? Maybe in the future there will be more restrictions on who can enter because it’s now separated? These are things that may in time will change and I can add to my report later on but for now I think I have just the right amount of information to beginning my writing on workhouse infirmaries.