#st mungos
Imagine:
Years after Hogwarts, Hermione suffers from dementia.
Harry and Ron went every day to the St. Mungo’s Hospital and tell her the old stories.
And for a moment, she’s back to them. Laughs and cries.
For a moment, all of them are happy..
Everyone in the British wizarding world knows St. Mungo’s Hospital is the place to go for any malady or injury. Over the centuries, it has grown and flourished with the initial space expanding to fit the needs of modern patients and hospital staff. On any given day, you can find a wizard have the flowers that replaced his ears trimmed and a witch reeling from noxious poison fume inhalation. Whatever a patient’s needs, St. Mungo’s takes great care in being able to provide.
Hospital Staff.
Full staff: When most people think about St. Mungo’s, they think of only a few roles: healers, mediwix, and the bright shining face of the welcome witch. Their staff is far more expansive, however. Taking care of the building itself are the maintenance and custodial staff members. On the ground floor to run the Admissions Department are archivists who update and organize hospital records. Upstairs on the fifth floor are a whole team of potioneers, apothecarists, and herboligists running the pharmacy and apothecary, as well as the tea and gift shop staff. Together this team work to create the safe and comfortable network the average wix thinks of when St. Mungo’s is mentioned.
Trainee program: Healers and mediwix both have a six month general education, followed by a training rotation to each of the floors. Healers take two years with a rotation every four months for on-the-job experience in each department. Mediwix take one year with a rotation every two months. After spending a full internship on each floor for observation, practicum, and mentoring, a trainee chooses the floor where they feel they will have the best fit to return for another full term where they explore the particularly wards for the best fit and gradually receive more independence. It should be noted that trainees are not necessarily locked into these department roles if they determine that another place may better suit their interests and talents. It is also not uncommon for a trainee to begin their final four month rotation in one department and transfer floors a month in. The important part of the process is to understand how each healer or mediwix can flourish within the St. Mungo’s system. For the more particular wards with specialized expertise, up to six months more can be required in a program. Total, trainees spend two and a half to three years at some point in their training before they are considered a full healer or mediwitch.
Hospital Layout.
Although the average wix may not be as familiar with it, there is a specific system in place that was used to facilitate and organize expansion as the hospital has grown. Some floors are significantly larger than others based on the number of wards or volume of patients, sometimes both. For that reason, the undetectable extension charms used across the hospital are not the same size for each floor. The units themselves also have been shifted and expanded where needed over time.
Explanation of floor coding: Each floor serves a unique purpose. Because magical injuries are often so specific, patients are divided up according to injury type. The first number of each ward’s code reflects the floor on which it is housed. The second number refers to the specific purpose of the ward numbered 1-9. Not every floor necessarily has a ward for each number. 1 is always an emergency and diagnosis ward. 2-5 are saved for specialized areas on the floors. 6 is for general care like physicals and precautionary checkups. 7 is intensive care for people who cannot be immediately treated but have severe, often life-threatening symptoms. 8 is recovery for short term stays and observation after treatment. 9 is permanent and long term care.
Purge and Dowse, Ltd: This is the facade name used for St. Mungo’s outward appearance, as the building is located in Muggle London. Wix can enter by traveling from the outside, or by floo or apparition directly into the reception area.
