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As part of BWH’s BluePrint celebration, BWH Bulletin features this special section to explore the past, present and future of the institution. You can find information about BluePrint, including a tool kit, milestones and events, at BWHPikeNotes.org/BluePrint. Questions? Email BWHBluePrint@partners.org.
Former night operator Joseph McQueen was featured in a 1954 issue of Brigham Bulletin.
It's easy to take for granted our near-instant ability to connect with others inside and outside BWH through the phone consoles on our desks, the mobile mini computers in our pockets and plenty of other devices. But communicating by phone wasn't always so easy.
For much of predecessor Peter Bent Brigham Hospital's (PBBH) history, it relied on the hard work of switchboard operators, who manually connected every incoming call through an intricate system of keys, lamps and cords. When a call came in, a tiny lamp would light up on the back panel of the switchboard. The operator would plug a cord into the corresponding jack and push a key forward, allowing him or her to speak to the caller. Depending on who the caller was trying to reach, the operator would place another cord in the jack associated with the extension and pull the key backward to ring the right person. The lamp would turn off once the call had ended.
Additionally, when an emergency patient arrived at the hospital by ambulance, the operator "disconnected [a 10-foot cord] and walked to a balcony overlooking the emergency entrance. Leaning over the wall, he shouted down to the person below: ‘Be ye medical or be ye surgical?'" according to "A Perfectly Striking Departure" by the late BWH surgeon Nicholas Tilney, MD. From there, the operator would connect the cords to ring the appropriate physician.
A look through the Bulletin's archives reveals a lively and dedicated cast of characters operating the switchboard over the years. There was "night operator-extraordinaire" Joseph McQueen in the 1930s through 1970s, as well as the "telephone operator with the blasé voice and terrific sense of humor," Kay Burke, who joined PBBH in 1946.
In 1957, a new switchboard and 50 additional lines were added, much to Brighamites' delight. Later, in 1976, the hospital did away with the switchboard and moved phone operations to the company Centrex, allowing callers to dial directly to any department without operator support. Five-way conference call capability also became possible.
In 1985, BWH brought phone operation back in-house. It bought 4,000 new phones and laid 78 miles of cable, in order to provide more customized service at a lower cost, resulting in a savings of $80,000 per month.
Today, BWH is about midway through its transition to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), which allows calls to be sent and received through the Partners Internet connection and data network. Most of BWH's off-sites have already received new Cisco IP phones as part of the transition. The relatively new technology saves costs since it doesn't require a telephone company or an in-house telephone switching system.
Read a 1954 Brigham Bulletin feature about night operator Joseph McQueen.
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