Our Grandfather Donald Yates was a mysterious man to us grandchildren and what we recognized growing up, was that in many ways he was just as much a mystery to our parents, his children as well. He was a creative and handyman, working as an architect and once upon a time owning a jewelry-making business. He often built us beautiful wooden gifts for Christmas, many of which we still have and treasure to this day. These were small glimpses into who he was, how he saw the world, what he valued, how he expressed himself. If you could look past the precisely stained and carved wood, you could see how he had spent days, weeks, months on making something priceless and one of a kind just for you.

The pictures we recovered showed even more of this, many that showed him tooling leather on his hospital bed and his pictures of himself or the world behind him in the bathroom mirror. These photos felt like one last gift from him. It was especially meaningful to digitize these and share them with our family, his children, so they too could get this intimate look into his life, before any of us even existed.

Photos taken by our Grandfather, a Navy Sailor, who spent 1946 and subsequent years in the VA hospital battling Tuberculosis. Photos were taken with an Argus C3 camera with Llford HP2 Film. A glimpse into the not so distant past shows just how much healthcare has evolved and yet, remained the same. The environment may appear different, but the people are still people, still humans in need of care, compassion, community and laughter.

Imagine as healthcare providers if we took the time to know our patients in these ways, beyond their diagnosis, lab results or vital signs. If we knew how they expressed themselves, how they saw life, how they interpreted and showed love or feelings. These photos show a time when hospitals looked very different than what we have today. Large open wards of beds, side by side, where patients and staff basically lived in the same world and could more authentically share in these moments and know one another.

Our environment has certainly changed but the people, the patients and those who care for them, we would argue that not so much has changed.

Look past what you see or hear at first pass and you may just stumble upon something hidden in plain sight. That is where the treasure lay. Show Less.