Matron Ivy Weber & Dr Louis JoelPrint Page 
The plaque commemorates the services of Matron Ivy P. Weber and Dr Louis Joel and marks the site of the first hospital in Altona.
In 1928, the Werribee Shire appointed Dr Louis Joel of Newport as the medical officer of Altona. At that time, with no trained nurses or midwives, home births were the norm, and maternal deaths and puerperal fever were not uncommon.
Dr Joel strove to introduce modern healthcare and education to Altona, including the model of the bush nursing hospital, where local rather than state money was used to build and maintain a not-for-profit hospital with a resident community nurse. Many residents gave donations of a penny a week and with other local fundraising, the first hospital was opened on 3 Dec 1932 at an old house in Pier Street North where the petrol station is now located.
Dr Joel had successfully encouraged Sister Ivy Weber to become the hospital’s first nurse. She was trained in medical, surgical and midwifery nursing and had agreed to transfer her equipment and furniture from her own private hospital to the Altona Hospital.
Location
| Address: | Service Station, Pier Street, Altona, 3018 |
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| State: | VIC |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -37.866755 Long: 144.830825 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Plaque |
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| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Medicine |
Dedication
| Approx. Monument Dedication Date: | October -1974 |
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This plaque was donated by the Altona Historical Society to record the site of the first hospital in Altona, 1932, and the services rendered by Matron I. P. Weber and Dr L. Joel M.B.B.S
