Bock Describes New Central Medical Clinic and Infirmary

Plans for a new University Health Center and Infirmary were revealed yesterday by Arlie V. Bock, Henry K. Oliver Professor of Hygiene.

The only major barrier in the way of these proposals is that the necessary grant for erecting the building has not yet been received.

The new building, which is designed to utilize the most modern methods in efficient hospital construction, will be centralized and will eliminate Stillman Infirmary and the Hygiene Building by combining the two on the present location of the Hygiene Building at Holyoke and Mt. Auburn Streets.

No Date Set

Although no definite date can be set for the beginning of this project, Dr. Bock has the plan well outlined, and through it hopes to simplify the health problem of the men in the University. The proposal at present is to have a four or five-story building which will occupy the sites of the Hygiene Building, the University parking lot and Little Court.

The new building will have 100 beds with better provision for isolation of men with contagious diseases. Whereas Stillman has but 64 beds with the majority of them in wards, the new building would have a great many private rooms.

By this arrangement with the Hygiene Building occupying the bottom floors and laboratories, treatment rooms and infirmary under the same roof, the undergraduate health problem would be greatly simplified.

Noise would be reduced to a minimum since the first floor would baffle most of the street noises in this quiet section of the University grounds.

Stillman Obsolete

As an example of the obsolete character of Stillman, Dr. Bock pointed out that the old wing of the building had nothing but an outside staircase until 1935. This was supposedly to prevent the carrying of germs by inside staircases, an outmoded idea in medicine.

Dr. Bock stressed the fact that this center would still retain its identity as an infirmary, and not as a hospital, but that it would be equipped to handle more diversified emergencies than is possible under the present widespread organization.