THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510110184
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Chesapeake General Hospital is looking for a lot of good memories.
The hospital will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year and wants to celebrate with a huge display of hospital memorabilia.
``Like walking into Bennigan's or Carlos Murphy's with all the stuff plastered all over their walls - that's what we want to have,'' said Tracy Clymer, who is in charge of the project.
Clymer said he's looking for anything that may have the hospital's familiar logo. And he said there's plenty of stuff out there, if people would only look into attics, basements or junk boxes.
``It's unbelievable the amount of promotional stuff out there,'' Clymer said. ``There's Frisbees, puzzles, cups, pins, T-shirts, mugs, raffle tickets, even golf balls. You name it, it's out there. We're also looking at displaying old newspaper clippings and photos if anyone has those they wish to share.''
Clymer said the appeal has already brought in many, many examples of hospital memorabilia, including a hospital T-shirt with a no smoking symbol, a CGH license plate frame and lots of other items, posters and photos with the hospital logo.
``I'm getting a lot of neat stuff,'' Clymer added. ``I'm also looking for any photos that show the hospital, its medical staff, patients, whatever, so long as it has something to do with Chesapeake General.''
And where will all this stuff be housed?
``We have the original construction trailer out back that was used as an office when the hospital was under construction,'' Clymer explained. ``We plan to use that as a sort of museum with sections to show the step-by-step process in which the hospital was built. We want to show how it grew and added on the atrium, the birthing section, all the way to our new cancer center.''
Clymer envisions the trailer being divided into decades. Each decade display would hold the various promotional items, souvenirs and mementos of that time.
``I'm looking at a possible $5,000 worth of renovations to the trailer,'' he said. ``After it opens, we will open it to the public, manned by a volunteer every Friday. We're looking at it as a permanent exhibit.''
Clymer said he's also getting the hospital's auxiliary and its medical staff involved in the search for historical memorabilia.
``We'd like to get everybody involved, from the public, the hospital's doctors, its staff, everybody.''
If you have anything you'd like to donate to the hospital's upcoming museum, contact Clymer at 547-8121, Ext. 1389. by CNB