About
The history of Cleveland and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center are not independent of one another. A city is people; a hospital is people—the story of the past century and a half is the story of how these people have helped each other.
St. Vincent Charity Medical Center Milestones
October 10, 1865
St. Vincent Charity opens as St. Vincent Charity Hospital.
1873
The first operating room opens. Cleveland’s first amphitheater for demonstration of surgical and clinical procedures to medical students.
1881
Dr. Gustave C.E. Weber, first chief of staff at St. Vincent Charity and one of the first surgeons, organizes Charity Hospital Medical College, which confers first medical degree in Cleveland. In 1881 it merges with Medical Department of Wooster University to form Western Reserve Medical Department, the precursor to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
1894
Hospital opens first outpatient department, known as the “outdoor” department.
April 1895
Sister M. Mechtildes, CSA, went to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to study pharmacy. She returns in July 1895 “fully efficient to take charge of the drug room and fill any and every prescription of the physicians.”
1898
School of Nursing, with an enrollment of six, was founded under the director of Sister M. Charles, Superior of the hospital with the motto, “Charity is Kind.”
1907
Electricity comes to St. Vincent Charity because two men working for the Illuminating Company were burned and brought to Charity. To ventilate the room, fans were requested but could not be used as the hospital was not wired. The Illuminating Company brought the cables from the street through the window so the fans could be used. After the patients were discharged, the building was equipped for electricity.
1910
As the hospital outgrows its facilities, a wealthy donor requests an investigation of St. Vincent Charity and eight other hospitals to ensure it was being operated efficiently and economically. Cost per day per patient at St. Vincent Charity was $2.75. Six of the hospitals had higher costs: one $3.69 per day, another $3.80 per day. The Benefactors, including John D. Rockefeller, were pleased and contributed to the campaign.
1917
St. Vincent Charity celebrates its 50th Anniversary with the opening of a Surgical Pavilion, a “monumental gift from the Citizens of Cleveland.” More than $250,000 was raised in six days to support the six-story building with 150 beds, five ORs, X-ray Department, the Accident Room, Contagious Ward and living quarters for House physicians.
1934
The School of Nursing opens a new residence and teaching facility along East 24th Street.
1940
Hospital celebrates 75th Anniversary.
1942
As the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine observe the 90th anniversary of their first hospital in Cleveland, their thoughts and prayers are with the 12 Charity physicians and 33 nurses serving in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II.
1950
Specialized work in heart disease began with the opening of the Cardiovascular Laboratory, one of the first diagnostic and evaluation labs in the Midwest.
1952
The hospital’s new $2 million, 112-bed main building facing Central Avenue opens. The building adjacent to the surgical pavilion features the Edward F. Murphy Memorial Pavilion for pediatrics division.
Rosary Hall Solarium was founded by Sister Mary Ignatia Gavin, CSA, in December after she had been transferred from St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, the birthplace for Alcoholics Anonymous.
1954
Under the direction of Dr. Henry A. Zimmerman, the hospital puts into operation the first fluoroscope for diagnosing heart disease in the United States.
1956
The first open-heart surgery in the Midwest is performed on a 6-year-old girl by Dr. Earle B. Kay. The surgery used the Cleveland-developed heart lung machine known as the Kay-Cross Heart Lung Machine. The Cardiac Recovery Unit opens in October and is designed as one of the first in its kind in the country to provide more safety for the cardiac surgery patient.
1959
The Intensive Care Unit, the first in the city, opens.
1963
St. Vincent Charity dedicates the Roger W. Disbro Research Building. Funded by the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Department of Public Health, the building would house research labs for doctors in heart, circulation, artificial heart valves, hypertension, liver disease, kidney function and shock.
1965
Ninety-nine years and 11 months after the first St. Vincent Charity opens, the hospital dedicates its modern-day $8 million, 424-bed facility. It includes an ER, psychiatric division, four patient floors, the first of its kind heart pavilion.
1976
The 14-room surgical suite opens along with a cardiovascular lab, pathology lab, pulmonology, occupational and physical therapy, neurological resting and electrocardiography.
1981
Bishop Anthony M. Pilla rededicates Charity Hospital under its new name—St. Vincent Charity Hospital and Health Center—to better reflect the hospital’s scope of activities.
1984
A 54-year-old Amherst, Ohio, man is the first to receive the “New Jersey knee,” a high-tech knee replacement joint developed by two doctors. It was performed by Arthur Steffee, M.D., chief of orthopedic surgery at St. Vincent Charity.
1985
Occupational Health and Wellness Center opens to provide comprehensive health and wellness programs for area employers.
1985
Arthur Steffee, M.D., chief of orthopedics at St. Vincent Charity, performs the first vertebral implant in the country. He uses a metal and plastic replacement he designed himself. Dr. Steffee goes on to form Acromed, which he later sells to DePuy in 1998 for $325 million.
1987
St. Vincent Charity brings laser surgery to Cleveland. Dr. Rais Beg performs the first laser arterial surgery on a 70-year-old woman with blocked coronary arteries.
1988
St. Vincent Charity opens the psychiatric emergency room, one of only two in the state of Ohio.
1994
The first Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery opens in the area, allowing patients to undergo treatments and surgery without receiving donor blood. It was developed to serve the needs of the Jehovah’s Witness population.
1995
The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine Health System form joint venture partnership with Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation, creating a for-profit system.
1997
St. Vincent Charity is the first hospital in the region to begin offering bariatric surgery.
1999
The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine Health System and University Hospitals Health System announce formation of a not-for-profit joint venture corporation to replace the partnership with Columbia/HCA.
2002
Rosary Hall celebrates 50 years of helping addicts find freedom from addiction.
2007
Dr. Louis Keppler, co-medical director of the Spine and Orthopedic Surgery, performs the first short-stem hip replacement surgery in the U.S. Those procedures now account for nearly 30% of all hip replacements performed in the U.S.
2008
Completely renovated state-of-art Psychiatric Emergency Department, one of only two in the state, opens.
2008
St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, in collaboration with the Sisters of Charity Health System, extended the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) throughout the health system under the direction of Rev. Robert McGeeney, creating the first CPE System Center Program in the East Central Region of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education.
2009
$6.9 million, two-year renovation of both the medical emergency department and the psychiatric emergency department is completed, expanding the space by 24,000 square feet and modernizing to reflect expectations for care today and to provide a respectful healing environment.
2010
After a decade of joint venture with University Hospitals, St. Vincent Charity Hospital returns to sole ownership by the Sisters of Charity Health System and rebrands itself as St. Vincent Charity Medical Center.
2011
Thanks to generous gift from John M. and Mary Jo Boler, the School of Nursing Memorial Garden is dedicated at the corner of East 24th and Central.
2012
Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) is implemented across the hospital as St. Vincent Charity works toward meeting Stage 2 Meaningful Use for electronic health record.
2014
150th Anniversary yearlong celebration kicks off with biennial Pizzazz Gala.
October 5, 2015
St. Vincent Charity Medical Center celebrates 150 years of caring for Greater Cleveland.
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