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About Us
Welcome to Humboldt General Hospital Our staff is dedicated to being helpful and caring for those in need

This section of the website is designed to familiarize you with our dedicated staff of professionals share the history of our hospital and provide a directory of contact information Please feel free to contact us with any questions concerns or comments you may have

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History

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Humboldt General Hospitals goal is simple to provide local residents with the best care possibleright here close to home Historically though that hasnt always been as easy as it sounds

According to Winnemucca historian JP Marden in the early days of Humboldt County if people became seriously ill they would simply suffer and die there was very little that could be done to save them Most of the medicines available at that time were ineffective and sanitary conditions for operations and other treatments were nonexistent Even doctors lacked any kind of bona fide credentials instead all they had to do was hang out a shingle and they were in the business of health care

Marden said Before the first hospital was opened in Winnemucca it was very common for the sick and injured to be treated at home or in one of the local hotels Marden said with the low level of expertise of doctors at that time there were many who died in these local hotels including the Winnemucca Hotel which registered more than 100 deaths in those early days

While Marden said no one knows for sure when the first Winnemucca hospital was built he said by 1886 a facility was in operation on the north side of East Second Street near Second Streets crossing with the Water Canyon Creek Under modern standards it wasnt much said Marden but at the time it was all Humboldt County had in the way of advanced medical care

Marden provided the following description of the hospital which was published in Humboldt Countys newspaper The Silver State in 1897 after a reporter was given the grand tour of the facility by Superintendent James Hurst and his wife

The hospital is at present full to its utmost capacity and I must say that it does not take more than 16 people to leave standing room at a premium The building is but a small structure consisting of six rooms in all and is entirely too small and too crowded for any kind of comfort or convenience but although I noticed five beds in one room and as many in another I was struck with their cleanliness and the fine condition in which everything was kept

Still it did take some time for the idea of a local hospital to establish itself firmly in the minds of residents This week National Hospital Week actually resulted from such fears when a magazine editor concerned that the public perceived hospitals as places shrouded in secrecy suggested hosting an annual celebration in honor of hospitals But according to the following perhaps residents misgivings had more to do with medical practices at the time rather than hospital facilities themselves

Marden pointed to a Silver State article that records that in 1892 Charles Neale had his hands severely burned and was admitted to the county hospital for care His doctor Dr Cartwright decided that two of his fingers were healing too slowly and would have to be amputated According to the report The operation was performed in the twinkling of an eye and without the administration of chloroform to the patient

Marden said that as Winnemucca grew into the 20th Century it became apparent that the hospital on Second Street would no longer serve the needs of the community He said By 1907 the Humboldt County Board of Commissioners became somewhat improvement minded and decided that a new jail and a new hospital were needed to better care for the citizens of the county

Officials took their first step toward improved health care in the community when they purchased land on what was then called East Railroad Street but which would soon become known as Haskell Streetthe same property that houses Humboldt General Hospital today

Money woes were common then even as they are today When the hospital first went to bid in October of that year the two bids received were rejected as too high both were for just over 15000 It is apparent that the commissioners wanted to join the 20th Century said Marden but it was not going to be at just any cost Eventually the money problems were ironed out however and D I LaPoint was awarded the contract in April 1908

By the end of August the hospital was nearly complete patients moved in that December Marden provided the following excerpt from The Humboldt Star which describes the new facility The building is a handsome structure and is a great credit to Humboldt County The hospital is constructed of brick and is 50 x 70 feet in size and two stories high with colonial porchOn the upper floor there are nine large wards with bathrooms and clothes closets for the patients The lower floor contains two living rooms for the superintendent the operating room dining room kitchen pantry drug room a bathroom and four large wards Besides the rooms described there are large lobbies The new hospital contains nothing but firstclass material

Over the ensuing years Marden said a number of improvements were made to what would become Humboldt General Hospital including the addition of a screen porch in 1913 as well as a large elevator that was used to lift and lower patients A new bathroom with two toilets was added upstairs to better accommodate the patients and the staff and an old shed at the rear of the hospital was converted One half became a laundry facility while the other was transformed into an ice house and refrigerator room

In 1914 the hospital began what would become a lasting love affair with modern technology with the purchase of a used xray machine from the Sisters Hospital in Reno That quest for bigger and better technology continues today In fact just recently Humboldt General added 1900 square feet to its radiology department much of which has been used to house a new inhouse MRI unit along with a second fluoroscopy machineall for the cool price of 225 million

With that kind of money hospital officials joke that they could have constructed the original Humboldt General Hospital building 150 times Still they say investing that kind of money in new technology is what it takes to keep a community healthy

Humboldt General Hospital CEOAdministrator Jim Parrish agreed the expansion will be a boon to patients who now can stay in town for some of the services that previously required them to travel elsewhere The hospital has already performed similar expansions in other departments including the lab Parrish said the hospital isnt done yet though He said the hospital will continue to assess local residents health needs with an eye toward expansion Now its time to look at the next 100 years he said