Jonah waited until he was sure the young woman and her cousin were well out of ear-shot, and even then, he kept his voice low. "I don't think we'll need to worry about some eager boy snatching her up...even if she looked like Miss Mundee, she is so...stiff. I wonder if she can even laugh."
Criticizing, yes, but sadly true. Not that unattractive people didn't find love, too, but to be so devoid of personality on top of being homely was a free ticket to spinsterhood!
"Hopefully, once she's settled, she'll be able to relax and enjoy herself." He shook his had as he looked at Josiah. "It's a good start for us, though, I suppose."
"Well," Josiah said watching the woman walking away, "That's not what we would hire her to do. If she is as proficient and I think she might be, she will be a credit to the hospital and our ability to know talent, regardless of the packaging."
Now all they needed to do was snag her up., but then how would a nurse of her caliber, suspected, pass to be the charge nurse in a brand new hospital, to train nurses the way she wants, and, to build a nursing staff that would be the envy of the territory? There was just no way that Nurse Armentrout could turn that down.
"I wonder how much the Wigfalls are paying her to see to Hector," Jonah mused. "She might find it more profitable to stay in private service." Especially if there was a particularly well-to-do client needing continual care who didn't want to be confined to the hospital.
"And what about pay? I have no idea what we should offer staff...nurses, cooks, cleaners...even doctors, for that matter. And do we offer room and board in addition?" He hadn't thought that the process could get more complicated, but here it was!
Likely she gets two dollars a day, what we could expect to pay her. Maybe as much as two dollars fifty cents a day."
"Now, doctors, maybe eight to ten dollars a day, but that's for days worked, seeing patients, operating, that sort of thing. Sitting around the place drinking coffee, not so much I'm afraid. But there are going to be costs involved in this place."
"You and I can only do this for so long on chickens and eggs as payment, but we'll need to be flexible about all of that. After all, we are a oart of building something the valley needs." Then he chuckled. "Afraid we'll both be skinnier before this place starts to pay."
Jonah chuckled. "Well, I think you're right about taking actual payment for hospital services, we can hardly support it with eggs and marmalade, or even Miss Kitty's kittens!" Staff would want to be paid in actual money, and, of course, any supplies they needed, or outside services would need cash. "I'd still be willing to take sundries in my private practice..."
But then, he might have a wife to support...
Oh, that though sent palpitations through Jonah's chest, and he felt a bit light-headed, and he tried to cover that with a cough. "So, I suppose that's something we need to check into and discuss...and then how much we'd need to charge..."
Again, a whole new area that he hadn't considered, and that he really had no idea how to consider. "I'd think that we can't charge as much as, say, Helena, nor can we pay as much, but maybe an area such as Butte?"
"Hospitals and Doctors are businesses. It's that simple. Now all the money that comes in has to support the hospital, and we, the doctors. as well as the staff have to be paid from that. What is in our favor is the place will be paid off, the equipment will be paid off, so all there will be are running expenses."
Medications, bandages, all those sorts of things have to be replaced as they are used. So, my friend, we have to charge a nominal fee for our services that covers all of that. And yes, Leah will be right in there working beside you to take care of these things. If you didn't know, I have learned that she has investments, and from what I understand, some of those investments are being redirected to fund the hospital."
Josiah raised an eyebrow, "Now I have that information on sworn secrecy, but since you and I will be running this asylum, even though she'll believe she is, I can share that with you. But act surprised when she tells you, as she will because it will come up as to how we intend to fund this place out here in the frozen wilderness. We are going to have a grand time of it, I promise. and you far more than me."
Jonah was not in the least surprised, Leah was very business savvy, and generous, especially with her passion project. Chuckling, he shook his head. "I don't know why she puts up with me. She needs someone who..." Well, he wasn't really sure how to finish that, but she certainly deserved someone who could keep up with her, and was deserving of her qualities.
"Doctor...doctors..." Polly swept into the room, a wide smile on her face, "I'll be leaving for the evening. There is stew and biscuits warming in the oven."
Josiah rose quickly and nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Armentrout." The woman was a godsend, no question, and Jonah hoped she'd be amenable to working at the hospital...she still hadn't decided, although he'd hate to lose her as a housekeeper.
Once the woman had left, Jonah glanced at Josiah. "I could use a shot, how about you?"
Josiah smiled, "Well that would be a capital idea, Jonah. A drink might just revive this old body a bit." Then he thought a moment before speaking, "I suppose Jonah, it's because she sees something in you. Eight days ago you announced that you were courting her, and that she was agreeable to that says a lot about her feelings for you, unless you missed that."
So then he added, "Jonah, you more than you think you are. Trust me, I've seen a whole lot of men in my time, and you have promise. I think you are a man who has continually sold yourself short. She won't allow that unless I miss my guess. Medical Director is too important of a position to hand it out to just anyone. She chose you. She chose you for a reason, and in time we will all know why. But I believe that reason is, you will do the job as it should be done, and that my boy is what good business people do."
He sat back then, watching him pouring the drinks. Happy that he was alive to see the changes in both Jonah and Leah. It had been coming for a long time. Now he would get to enjoy the fruits of those changes.
Josiah's spiel was convincing, even if Jonah was already starting to come around, but it was good to hear from a man he considered a mentor.
But there was more to it.
He poured them both drinks, not quite the quality stuff that Elias Steelgrave had, but decent Kentucky bourbon that Mr. Kinney had given him along with real cash money after his wife's bout of shingles.
"I," he commented as he set a glass in front of Josiah then sat across from him, "am not a doctor." There! It was out, finally, although it didn't seem as releasing as he'd thought. "I've been to medical school...some, up to the last year, but I never finished. A...dalliance with the school president's daughter..."
He downed the shot-glass of whisky. "She was willing, but much younger...oh, not so young, mind you, but her father wasn't happy...nor her mother, for all that..." He let out a breath, mulling, wanting another drink, but he wouldn't do that. "I was there under another name, a young man I ran across in a poker game. He...wasn't able to attend school, so I just took up his name, and..."
"You're not a doctor. No sheep skin. As if that was needed in these times out here." Josia said, taking a sip of his whiskey before continuing. "Three or four years of education is far more than most 'Doctors' out in this neck of the woods have ever had. I have watched you work, the only thing missing is that sheepskin. And part of the reason I came back was you. I wanted to be a part of this hospital, sure, who wouldn't? It's why I sent word of it to Angie, but I wanted to be on hand to bolster your confidence, and my boy, there's no reason to doubt what you've learned." He held up his hand before Jonah could say anything.
"A dalliance with the president's daughter? Like you're the first to find themselves in hot water of that degree. Come now, Jonah, do you really think a degree makes you a doctor? Hardly, it's all in the ability to treat and care for your patient. To use the education you were given. You know what to do and how to care about those you treat. So, I can take a piece of paper and make you a degree, if that's what you want, but then, you probably need to be reminded that there are degrees on a thermometer, and you know where we stick them."