Campo da Barca Disinfection Station
Original title: Posto de Desinfecção do Campo da Barca
The public disinfection station at Campo da Barca in Funchal, built in 1904 and opened in 1905 by the Junta Geral, disinfected homes and public buildings after contagious diseases, notably during epidemics.
Foundation, staff and services
It was built in 1904, and the land it occupies was granted free of charge by the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) to the District General Council (Junta Geral) on 12 March 1903 and 23 March 1911.
The Disinfection Station (Posto de Desinfecção) of Campo da Barca (‘boat field’) opened on 29 November 1905. Its staff, consisting of a medical director, an administrator, a machinist, a head disinfector, two disinfectors and an attendant, had been approved by decree of 23 May 1904.
Home disinfections have been carried out mainly in the municipality (concelho) of Funchal, including the suburban parishes. However, when their services are requested, the disinfection staff also go to parishes of other municipalities to disinfect homes where deaths from contagious diseases have occurred.
The number of home disinfections includes hospitals and charitable houses, banks, schools, pawnshops, hotels, the civil gaol, police cells and other public buildings.
The director of the Public Disinfection Station since its opening has been the distinguished physician Dr Carlos Leite Monteiro. Its administrator is Mr J. Cruz Baptista Santos, who has held this post since 3 November 1919, having been appointed to replace, on his retirement, the distinguished man of science and journalist Dr Manuel Sardinha, who had held the office since the station opened (1921).
We are pleased to record the services that the Public Disinfection Station, founded on the initiative of the late Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) Dr José Leite Monteiro, then president of the District General Council, has rendered to the Madeiran population, particularly during epidemics on this island.
All the costs of maintaining the station are borne by the District General Council, and because of its public usefulness this service ought to be counted among the welfare works maintained by that Council, such as the Trapiche and Dr Câmara Pestana nursing homes, the Old People’s Home (Asilo dos Velhinhos), allowances to minors and the destitute, etc.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 05-
The Funchal council ceded land on Campo da Barca to the Junta Geral for a disinfection station.
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The disinfection station at Campo da Barca was built.
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A decree approved the staff establishment of the Campo da Barca disinfection station.
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The public land disinfection station at Campo da Barca, Funchal, opened.
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A further cession of the Campo da Barca disinfection station's land to the Junta Geral was made.
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J. Cruz Baptista Santos became administrator of the Campo da Barca disinfection post, replacing the retiring Manuel Sardinha.
Place
Places mentioned · 06- Campo da Barca Disinfection Station · Subject
Funchal
The Posto de Desinfecção do Campo da Barca was Funchal's public disinfection station, built in 1904 and opened in 1905 by the Junta Geral. It disinfected homes and public buildings after cases of contagious disease, notably during epidemics.
- Campo da Barca
Funchal. Site of the disinfection station in Funchal.
Campo da Barca is a public square in Funchal, built under Governor Florencio José Correia de Melo, handed to the municipality in 1818 and named after the Conde da Barca. It was the site of the disinfection post, which was attacked in popular riots, and of the house where the Asilo da Infância operated from 1836. Part of the square was later renamed Praça de Tenerife.
- Dr Câmara Pestana Nursing Home
Funchal. Care institution maintained by the Junta Geral.
Care institution maintained by the Junta Geral.
- Funchal
Municipality where most home disinfections were carried out.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Old People’s Home
Funchal. Old people's home supported by the Junta Geral.
An old people's home in Santa Luzia parish, Funchal, maintained by the Junta Geral. In 1938 the Escola Industrial António Augusto de Aguiar moved into the former asylum building.
- Trapiche Nursing Home
Funchal. Care institution maintained by the Junta Geral.
Psychiatric hospital established in 1923 in the Trapiche quinta, maintained by the Junta Geral. The chapel of São João de Deus belongs to it.
People
People mentioned · 04-
Physician who directed the Campo da Barca disinfection station from its opening in 1905.
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Administrator of the disinfection station from 3 November 1919.
- José Leite Monteiro1841–1920
President of the district Junta Geral on whose initiative the disinfection station was founded.
- Manuel Bettencourt Sardinhab. 1865
Man of science and journalist who was the station's first administrator until retiring in 1919.