Old hospital equipment given new life

Before sale, St. Mary's donations "cleaned out' old hospital

When Farmer Holding Co. took over the old St. Mary's Hospital complex last Wednesday, all the furnishings and decorations had been removed - donated by the hospital to a number of different churches and organizations.

One piece of furniture - an electric bed - was given last spring to Josh Webb and his family, of rural Versailles.

Josh, now 23, received a traumatic brain injury from a Sept. 6, 2011, accident, when his car crossed the center line on Missouri 52 in Morgan County and "an 18-wheeler ran over his car," said his mother, Brenda Webb. "He was in the hospital for almost six months, at the university, and we stayed with him the whole time.

"And we said when he was ready to leave, we were going to take care of him at home, no matter what we had to do - and that's what we've been doing."

She said Josh "needs constant assistance."

He uses a wheelchair, and the family had a bed that could be adjusted.

"You had to go down to the end of it and crank it up, so - if you got him transferred from his chair to the bed - you had to have someone else hold him while you went down to crank it up so you could put him in the bed," Brenda Webb explained.

"This has made it so much nicer - you can push a button and raise it up to your height, then turn and lay him in the bed, and get his head up quickly compared to the other one."

She had to pause while telling the story of how the Webbs and St. Mary's got together.

During a trip to the emergency room, her husband, Ray, wondered "what St. Mary's has done with all their old equipment."

Thinking they would hold a fund-raiser so they could buy a bed, as they had raised money for other needs "because insurance doesn't pay for everything that you need," Brenda sent St. Mary's an email. asking how to go about buying a bed.

Darlene Linnenbrink, St. Mary's guest relations supervisor, said in a statement Friday: "This is a beautiful story of a mother reaching out for a way to care for her son so he would be more comfortable.

"St. Mary's leadership stepped up to find a bed to give to them, free of charge."

Hospital spokeswoman Janet Wear-Enloe said Friday the bed given to the Webbs is just one instance where items from the old hospital have been given new homes over the past year.

And with each donation, she said, "We were just trying to fill a need. Although we are a Catholic organization, we help everyone.

"Our chaplains represent Catholic and Protestant denominations (and) St. Mary's helps patients make contact with all religions if they request it.

"It is part of our mission."

The lighted cross at the top of the hospital - taken down Wednesday and given to St. Peter Catholic Church, the oldest Catholic parish in Jefferson City - was the last thing to go.

Wear-Enloe said other local churches received furniture and chapel furnishings, including the altar, organ, statues and sanctuary pillar stands.

Churches receiving those donations included Cathedral of St. Joseph, St. Martin's Catholic Church, St. Andrew Catholic Church (Holt's Summit), Our Lady of Snows (Mary's Home) and the First Church of God.

The hospital also donated medical equipment, including items from the operating room and respiratory care, to Project CURE, a mission organization that has delivered medical relief in more than 120 countries.

Lincoln University, State Technical College of Missouri and the Salvation Army received furniture and supplies.

"We were pleased to donate medical equipment and furniture to many charitable organizations in the community and beyond to assist with their mission," President Brent VanConia said Friday in a statement to the News Tribune.

And this month, St. Mary's employees have been offered crucifixes from the old hospital, as a lasting reminder of the mission and a keepsake from the original campus.

The "old" hospital began taking patients in October 1905, and St. Mary's moved to its new home, 2505 Mission Drive, in November 2014.

"Though we began our ministry 110 years ago at the old campus," VanConia said, "it continues to hold true today, and our mission remains the same - "Through our exceptional health care services, we reveal the healing presence of God.'"

Brenda Webb said: "We felt very blessed and fortunate that they were going to give it to us. ... When I sent that email, we were not ever expecting it to be given to us."

In the four years since Josh Webb's accident, Brenda said, "There's been little bits of improvement" in his ability to do things for himself. "It's taken long bits of time, but now he seems more alert and is reaching and grabbing for balls and objects.

"We videoed him the other day, picking up a Christmas ornament and trying to put it on the tree."

Josh also has an older brother and younger sister who've been helping with his care.

Brenda said the St. Mary's donation helps the family keep looking forward.

If people remember only one thing about their story, she said, it is "to never lose hope, and always keep your faith - because I know that's what's gotten us by (so far)."