Rural hospital closings vs. New Deal hospital construction

Above: This graphic shows where rural hospitals have been closing for the last several years (see the bottom of the image for credits).

Above: This graphic shows where the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of new hospitals, many of which were in rural areas (see the quote at the bottom of this blog post), 1933-1939. Image from America Builds: The Record of PWA, 1939).

Rural hospital closings vs. New Deal hospital construction

An article on CNN today highlights the years-long problem of rural hospital closings. There are many reasons for these closings, including the fact that "they've been hit with reductions in federal funding through Medicaid and Medicare" ("Rural hospitals are facing financial ruin and furloughing staff during the coronavirus pandemic," CNN, April 21, 2020).

As these hospitals are closing--and staff are laid off or furloughed during a pandemic--it is interesting to remember the New Deal's hospital construction and repair work during the 1930s and 40s:

Here are the approximate number of New Deal projects to build, repair, or improve hospitals, by four major agencies:

Public Works Administration (PWA): 822 

Work Division, Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA): 1,093

Works Progress Administration (WPA): 2,550

National Youth Administration (NYA): 839

TOTAL: 5,304 projects to build, repair, or improve hospitals.

(Statistics from agency reports.)

If we were more aware of our New Deal history, and had more imagination about what good government could do (i.e., a government that is truly of, by, and for the people) we could learn valuable lessons and craft more beneficial policies.

"[T]here was, and there still is, a great need for small but modern general hospitals in rural areas all through the country. The hundreds of general hospitals built with PWA funds have provided many of  these."

--PWA Administrator Harold Ickes, and PWA staff, in: American Builds: The Record of PWA, 1939, p. 146