Infirmary

After surviving in cramped quarters on the second floor of Mill's Cottage, the Wheaton College Infirmary was established by a resolution of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustee on January 18, 1929. It was housed in the 90-year old Bent Cottage (adjacent to North Hall, present-day McManis Hall). In Bent Cottage the infirmary contained six rooms, a large well-equipped kitchen, a clinic room and the nurse's quarters. Miss La Verne Schonert, the school's nurse was put in charge. She was a graduate of St. Lukes Hospital, New York City. It was established to care for those cases that are not contagious and of a critical nature shall be treated.  Students were required to pay a fee of two dollars each semester for the infirmary's support and additional fees if services were rendered. (Record 1/30/29).  Soon thereafter the fees were lowered, likely due to student outcry. Within months of opening in Bent Cottage, Mr. Karl Nowack of Watertown, Wisconsin supplied the infirmary with six beds. Each bed had a signal bell so that a nurse could be summoned when necessary. An individual lamp was also attached for added convenience. If an illness required a student to remain in the infirmary the cost was $1 per day which paid for linens, board, nursing care and simple medications. In September 1929 La Verne Schonert returned to New York to seek teacher certification and Miss Gladys Puckey was hired. Subsequently all use fees were suspended. According to former Bible professor, Dr. Julius Scott, Mrs. Tena La Verne Schonert, Scott's mother, had been asked by President Buswell to start an infirmary. No pay was available, but room, board and tuition were promised. President Buswell desired that Miss Schonert become the full-time nurse in the fall but she wanted to continue her education.