Braemar Connections
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Frances Young was an experienced private hospital operator who had trained at Invercargill Hospital and had been employed in a private hospital in Gore. She opened her first private hospital in Hamilton either in 1924 or 1925, known as 'Haeata' Medical and Surgical Hospital in Anglesea Street. In 1926, while still operating 'Haeata', she purchased 'Tirohia'. 'Tirohia' had been leased to Nettie Neilson who used the building as a maternity hospital. Young changed the name from 'Tirohia' to 'Braemar' and converted it to a medical and surgical hospital. In 1929 Braemar was again back in the maternity business when Sister Young built a maternity annex known as 'Waione'. Sister Young was a remarkable woman who against the convictions of the time adopted two boys, David and John, in the 1940s. She purchased 10 acres in Fairfield which she sold to St. Paul's School for 4,000 pounds so that they could extend their playing fields. Young was most upset when the school later sold the land to a housing developer for a good profit. Young was a staunch National Party member who often took her concerns to her Member of Parliament, Hilda Ross. Ross had been a patient at Braemar. Dr Edward Cecil Brewis was the first Chairman of the hospital company from July 1946. He held that position until 1951 when he was succeeded by Dr William Fea. Drs Brewis, Mcdiarmid, and Fea were General Practitioners who carried out private surgery at Braemar. It was not until Geoffrey Wynne-Jones returned from overseas as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1958 that a specialist surgeon became part of the Braemar team. In the early 1950s records show that Dr Allan Lomas had become a Director. He was later responsible for establishing the first cancer unit at Waikato Hospital. Dr Fea set up the first anaesthetic service at Braemar after undergoing specialist training in Wellington. When he retired the position was taken over by Dr Hugh Clarkson who was later joined by Dr Jon Broad. The first Trustees of the Braemar Hospital Charitable Trust in 1971 were William Bennett Young, company director, Philip Vaughan Harkness, company director, Frederick John Mawson Clarke, insurance assessor, Barry Brian Smith, registered accountant, Howie Keith Forbes Wilson, James Duncan Campbell Mcdiarmid, Malcolm Gordon Dunshea, Jon Philip Broad, Ellis Thacker Dick, Geoffrey Wynne-Jones, and Alwyn James Seeley, all medical practitioners of Hamilton. Allen Howard Johnston (the then Bishop of the Diocese of Waikato) was also shown in the original of the Trust document, but his name was later deleted by the time the document came to be signed. Keith Wilson was elected as the first Chairman of the Trust. Dr Broad was, at the time of his death, in the Erebus crash in November 1979, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and an executive of the Private Hospitals Association. In recognition of his contribution to Braemar over many years the Theatre Suite at the new Ohaupo Road hospital is named after Dr Clarkson.
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