Lincoln, Maine

Responses from students in Mr. Koscuiszka's class can be viewed below:

Bridget Drinkwater
"Research your topic and summarize the ‘who, what, when, and where’ in the form of a few paragraphs"

In 1936, Dr. Albert J. Gulesian arrived in the small town of Lincoln where he first helped operate two hospitals, on West Broadway. The hospitals were the Stratton Hospital and the Margaret Workman Hospital. Dr. Gulesian was the Chief of Staff and his bride, Shirley Hainer-Gulesian, R.N, assisted at the hospital.

Dr. Gulesian bought a home on Lee Street in hopes of opening an Osteopathic Hospital. His hope came true and in August 13, 1947 the Gulesian Hospital was open for business. This hospital took in surgical patients, maternity patients and patients that need to be treated for disease and injuries. Although in 1951 it was obvious to “Doc” that the hospital needed more space. So, they added an addition that held a new operating room with new equipment, X-Ray treatment room, incubator, kitchen, and laboratory. They also made an ambulance entrance. All these modifications were made and finished by 1951. With all the new people coming in, they need more staff members. Some of these staff members were, Doctors Troutt (Mattawamkeag), Morey (Millinocket), Lyon (East Millinocket), and Daniels (Sherman). This hospital continued to be a working hospital until 1972, when the plans for the Penobscot Valley Hospital were being made. In 1976, the building was sold to Thelma White and became an apartment building.

We also had a nursing home located in South Lincoln. This was originally not a nursing home, so it was repaired in the spring of 1956 and on April 1, they were ready to accept patients. The South Lincoln nursing home was owned by Burkes until 1962 when he sold it to Henry H. Jacobs who continued to run it for only two years. After that, Jacobs sold the home to Kenneth Drake and he also continued to run the home until it was shut down because of State fire regulations in 1990.

Eventually, Thelma Stratton opened the Stratton Hospital on the corner of West Broadway and Mill Street. This was in her home. This two-story hospital housed the sick, young and old. Thelma decided to open a hospital in 1932 while working as a nurse in a nursing home. She witnessed women giving birth in their homes or in “maternity hospitals.” She saw this as a perfect opportunity. The same idea came to Margaret Workman. She too opened a hospital in that same year, specializing in delivering babies. The Stratton hospital had doctors that preformed surgeries on the kitchen table. The small Stratton Hospital continued to care for patients until 1938, because of Margaret Workman opening the Workman’s Hospital. After selling her former hospital in 1946, Thelma and her husband moved to her hometown, Bangor, and opened a convalescent hospital there. She operated that until her death at the age of 55 on July 14, 1960.

Melissa Shaefer
“Compare and contrast your topic in the past and in the present”

In early Lincoln, hospitals were not what they are today. They were in the homes of the doctors or nurses. They were not in sterile buildings, but in buildings that were hard to clean and did not have appropriate antibacterial cleaning supplies. The equipment they used would be considered outdated in today’s time. Equipment was primitive, with electricity being so new, and Lincoln being so far from other cities.

In today’s time, however, hospitals are very different. The hospitals are very clean, very white. There are antibacterial hand sanitizers in every hospital. Doctors have to make sure they have washed thoroughly and have the proper gear on before they attend to a very sick patient. We have machines that can see into people’s bodies in new ways. Almost every part of the United States has accessible medicine for all people.

Contrasting these two was quite easy. In early Lincoln, there was no anesthesia to dull pain, they had to use things like poppy seed and alcohol, which didn’t always work. In modern hospitals, for almost every surgery they have anesthesia to numb pain and give people comfort. In almost every modern hospital it is easy to do testing on blood for diseases, illnesses, etc. In earlier times, if someone had an internal disease, say they had cancer, doctors would not know how to treat them. They were probably misdiagnosed, from lack of knowledge. In earlier times, they did not have ambulances. If someone was suddenly sick, had a heart attack, was having a baby, etc, and needed immediate medical attention, they would have to wait for the doctor to arrive. Many lives were lost. Now we have ambulances that have certain rights on roads that allow them to get to patients quicker. These are some ways early hospitals and modern hospitals differ.

Coming up with similarities for these two was a bit harder. They both offered medical help to people who needed it. In either time, if someone broke their leg, they would be better off getting it checked out by a doctor. Both early and modern times had doctors who were trained. Some doctors could be specialized, like the osteopathic doctor. Both hospitals had nurses to help with the patients. The nurses were well-trained and offered jobs in the community. These are a few ways that early and modern hospitals are similar.

Alex Truax
"How did early hospitals impact your life? Your future? Our future as a town?"

Without Lincoln’s early hospitals we wouldn’t have the hospital we have now, and it is very important. The hospital has saved my life a few times, so it has impacted my life greatly. Without the hospital, I wouldn’t have a future, and our town would have a pretty sad future with all of the sick people, lack of workers, and lack of property.

Many of the people in our town would be dead without the hospitals, which means there would be fewer jobs and workers. The hospital also creates jobs, and for a while my cousin worked there and she bought my Ipod with the money from working there. Plus, if there weren’t hospitals, there would be only private doctors. There could be only a few private doctors, so if multiple people had problems, they wouldn’t get help. Today we have several ambulances so a lot of people could have problems and need help at once.

So, judging by this information, hospitals are very important. I think we can mutually agree that we are better off with hospitals. If we didn’t have hospitals, we would just all stay home and sit down on a floor in an empty room with meals made in pill form and just not move for the rest of our lives to avoid injury. But unless that happens, we need hospitals.

Todd Johnson
"What if hospitals/medicine never existed? Explain the consequences to the town"

If there were no hospital, there would be no medicine, which means if someone got hurt, like got a broken leg, they wouldn’t get the medical attention that they would need and might end up dying. Also, if there was no medicine and someone got the flu, they wouldn’t be able to get medicine they need and could get to the point where they would end up dying. So, without hospitals or medicine, people would get to the point where they die. Also, if they don’t die they could have to be home sick for the rest of their life, and life would just be a lot harder.

So overall, if there were no hospital, no one could get any medical attention, and no one could get any help with broken limbs or illness. We are so much better off now with hospitals than we would be without them.

Ian Lichtenberg
"Using your new found knowledge of this topic, write a creative piece (haiku, cinquain, story, song) about it"

There once was a man named Jack Jimenez. He had a serious toothache one day, so, remembering an ad he saw in the Mattanawcook Observer, he went to Dr. C. P. Small of Lincoln. This doctor was amazing. He had modern materials and lots of education, some of which was from Boston Dental School, to back him up. He eased the pain of Jack’s toothache in no time at all. All Jack needed was a little bit of painkiller and to have his wisdom teeth pulled.

Unfortunately, on the way home, Jack was in a car accident. It was not bad, his vehicle was well-built, but it did send him to the hospital. This was the Lincoln Osteopathic Hospital on Lee Road. He had suffered some bone damage that had to be bandaged. There, he was fixed up and sent home.

The next day, his wife Jill, suffered some odd muscle spasms. “Boy it’s a bad week for the Jimenez’s,” said Jack while driving his suffering wife to the hospital.

When they got to the hospital, the very hospitable staff greeted them warmly. “It’s not nice to see you here again, but it is nice to see you Mr. Jimenez. Have I met your wife?” asked the head nurse.

“No ma’am. This is Jill,” said Jack. After a quick giggle about “Jack and Jill” the nurse got to work. After fixing up Jill, they went home.

When they returned home, they found their kids, Jacob and Jane, who had just got back from an excruciating cross country practice with Mr. Cox, complaining that their muscles hurt. They brought them to the Osteopathic hospital once again, where they both received massages. Then they went to Dr. C.P. Small again to get check-ups on their teeth. After they arrived home once more, the Jimenez’s lived a long and happy life in the small town of Lincoln, Maine, USA.

Works Cited

"Dr. C. P. Small, Dentist Lincoln, Maine ." Mattanawcook Observer. 1.3/4 (1982): 155. Print.

"Lincoln Osteopathic Hospital ." From the Personal Collections of Beckie Goodwin. Print.

“South Lincoln Nursing Home .” From the Personal Collections of Beckie Goodwin. Print.

“Stratton Hospital .” From the Personal Collections of Beckie Goodwin. Print.