Geriatric Ward ( Ward 8 ), built 1950 , renovated 1981-82
The original building was erected in 1950 to provide accommodation for female domestic staff but became the Geriatric Ward in the early 1960s . In the late 1970s its use changed again to become the Psychiatric Ward ( Ward 8 ). In 1976 extensions to the building were proposed to make it a longstay geriatric unit but these plans were never put into effect . In 1981-82 the two storey ward was fully renovated and a new building was constructed linking with the old . When completed the new combined unit , which cost $ 1 million , was designed to house up to 30 in-patients and a number of day patients . In 2011 the unit was called Te Toki Maurere – the Mental Health Ward .
Dawson Block , official opening 14 December 1963 by Dr ET Dawson In an historical discussion section of a report presented to the Board in March 1976 62 , the authors wrote :
About the mid fifties a staged development plan was prepared for the expansion of the hospital to approx . 400-bed size . The first 2 stages ( Dawson Block and Santon Block ) have been completed .
The 1956 development plan showed the ultimate acute hospital development extending from the lift tower block into another multi-storey block similar in plan form to the eastern Block . On that development plan it was envisaged that the land to the west of the Maternity Hospital would be used for Maternity extensions while it has been suggested that the area to the west of the old D . S . Q .* building ( at present Geriatric Ward ) could be ideal for a long-stay geriatric unit . Late in 1974 , a structural survey of old wards ( men ’ s and children ’ s wards ) [ see plan 6 , 8 , 9 ,] was carried out and these wards will have to be demolished .
* DSQ = Domestic Staff Quarters . ( see 1976 Building Survey Plan at back .)
This 60-bed two-storey block cost $ 360,000 to build and was named after Dr ET Dawson who was Medical Superintendent for a quarter of a century from 1938 to 1963 . Appropriately Dr Dawson MB ChB ( NZ ) opened the building and a dedication was provided by Reverend N Te Hau . The ground floor was to house a greatly enlarged physiotherapy section , nurses ’ change rooms & toilets and , at the Stewart Street end of the building , a sitting room for patients . Also on the ground floor at the other end of the building was a drive-in ambulance bay giving direct access to the lift service to the 1st floor . On the 1st floor were the offices of the Medical Superintendent and his Secretary and a staffroom for doctors .
The Hospital ’ s first Computerised Tomography ( CT ) Scanner was in service in May 1997 63 but the 2007 replacement scanner was much larger and so a purpose-built suite was constructed behind the Santon Block and linking with the Dawson Block to house the CT scanner and Ultra Sound ( US ) services . In 2011 , Te Whare Whakarata Taitamariki – the Children and Young Person ’ s Ward and , at the Stewart Street end , part of Ko Matariki - Maternity Unit occupied the ground floor . All the Surgical Recovery Wards were on the 1st floor and the ambulance bay area had become part of the Medical Records centre .
62
Haughey , Fox & Partners , Architects & Engineers , Whakatane Hospital Building Survey Report , March 1976 , ( Auckland , Archives New Zealand , Reference ADHL A1669 22979 93 )
63
Anon , CT scanner in service , ( Whakatāne , Whakatāne Beacon ) 2 May 1997
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