Old Fort Defiance hospital to live on in memories of elders
NAVAJO TIMES | RAVONELLE YAZZIE The old Fort Defiance hospital awaits dismantling in Forth Defiance, Arizona.
FORT DEFIANCE
For some it was the place of their birth, for others a place where they had children, and for others a workplace of over 30 years. By the end of the month, the old Fort Defiance Indian Hospital will be gone.
An official at Tséhootsooí Medical Center confirmed that brick-by-brick demolition of the old hospital should be complete by the end of July.
The old hospital opened in 1938 with 153 patients already checked in since construction finished at that time. Navajo elders at the Navajo Nation Senior Center in Fort Defiance remembered the building’s service to the community throughout the years.
Stanley Ben, 73, said his chei left the mark of his craftsmanship on the old hospital during construction as he crafted the very stone used to build it.
“He’d be off early, around 7:30 he would walk up here and help with the mixer, mixing everything, cutting the blocks and shaping them,” Ben said.
He remembered coming in from herding sheep, and his grandfather would be in his shop getting ready for the next day’s work cutting blocks out of stone from the nearby area.
“I noticed when I came home from herding sheep, he’d be at it — making tools, sharpening them,” he said.
The hospital served as the primary facility on the reservation until Fort Defiance Indian Hospital Board, Inc. opened Tséhootsooí Medical Center in 2002.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow