Carondelet St Mary's Hospital

Description

Carondelet St Marys Hospital Arizonas first hospital celebrates its 130year anniversary in 2010 Founded in 1880 by the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet the 402bed acute care facility is the only hospital located on Tucsons west side

The hospital has a 54bed stateoftheart Emergency Center and is one of only three Accredited Chest Pain Centers in Southern Arizona

History

1870s
Seven Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet travel from Missouri to open Tucsons first school Sisters Emerentia Bonnefoy Monica Corrigan Euphrasia Suchet Hyacinth Blanc Martha Peters Ambrosia Arnichaud and Maxime Croissat endure the monthlong trek by train ship and covered wagon They arrive in the quotOld Puebloquot on Ascension Thursday May 26 1870 to an enthusiastic welcome with fireworks

Over the next decade the Sisters open an Indian school at San Xavier a school in Yuma and a hospital for injured miners in Prescott

A secondary school St Josephs Academy and an elementary school St Augustines are opened in addition to a novitiate for young women interested in entering the religious life

By the end of the 1870s the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad approach Tucson Railroad executives appeal to Bishop Jean Baptiste Salpointe the Vicar Apostolic of Arizona for a hospital reasoning that Tucson is a natural midway stop for trains heading toward the West Coast The Bishops work to open an Indian trade school is postponed to build the hospital

1880s
The Southern Pacific Railroad arrives in Tucson a month before the dedication of the 12bed St Marys Hospital on April 24 1880 The first 11 patients arrive a week later Assigned to St Marys are Sisters Basil Morris St Martin Dunn Julia Ford and Mary John Noli Physician John C Handy MD is joined by his brotherinlaw William Holbrook MD to serve the hospital

In 1882 Bishop Salpointe sells St Marys to the Sisters for 20000 and the promise that it retain its name and remain a hospital for 99 years During that year a second story is added doubling the capacity of the hospital Construction of another addition is begun on the north side of the faculty

By 1884 the hospital accommodates 50 patients The medical staff adds Drs Michael Spencer Hiram Fenner Henri Matas and Pierre Guiot In 1891 George Goodfellow MD a pioneer in treating gunshot wounds and abdominal surgery moves from Tombstone to Tucson A room is set aside at St Marys specifically for surgical operations During the mid1880s the Sisters build a 24bed isolation cottage The cottage receives the growing number of tubercular patients seeking the benefits of Tucsons sunshine

1890s
In 1893 Sister Fidelia McMahon is named superintendent of St Marys a position she will hold for 27 years That same year the Sisters open their first convent on hospital grounds The twostory structure includes a chapel and parlor on the first floor and dormitories and washrooms on the second The Sisters convert their old adobe convent into an orphanage

1900s
In 1900 to care for the growing numbers of tubercular patients Dr Hiram W Fenner designs and oversees the construction of a twostory circular sanatorium at St Marys Hospital Known as the quotRound Buildingquot the sanatorium is designed so that each room opens onto a shaded porch allowing patients easy access to the therapeutic climate

In 1903 a surgical suite is created on St Marys first floor containing operating sterilizing and preparation rooms and a large emergency room

In 1907 St Marys Hospital and Convent receive electricity The first months bill is 1940

St Marys opens the Nursing School in 1914 with classrooms dorms and a twoandahalfyearlong curriculum Sisters Francis de Sales Fuller and Mary Evangelista Weyand prepare the curriculum and organize the teaching faculty

St Marys medical staff is officially organized on February 16 1917 Dr Arthur W Olcott presides over the meeting with Dr Edward J Gotthelf Jr who serves as secretary

The United States enters World War I in 1917 The Sisters offer the hospital as a place to care for wounded soldiers

In 1918 Tucsonans find themselves caught in the grip of a global influenza epidemic Barbara Pateh a recent nursing school graduate recounts quotstrong young men died from it and there was nothing we could do We fed them hot broth and cared for their needsquot The Xray Department opens in a little room off the lobby of the hospitals north wing in 1918

1920s
In 1921 three physicians at St Marys are certified as Fellows of the American College of Surgeons Drs Meade Clyne Joel I Butler and George E Dodge These are the first certified physicians at the hospital

The Fifth Arizona Legislature on June 9 1921 passes an act empowering the governor to appoint a State Board of Nursing Examiners Sister Evangelista is named to the board and is honored by the state when they license her as quotRN No 1quot of the State of Arizona

St Marys Nursing School is formally accredited in 1922The sacrifices made by the Sisters to care for the sick are dramatically revealed to Tucsonans on Sunday March 15 1925 when a fire in the convent chapel exposes their humble living conditions

A 25000 fundraising campaign led by businessman Herbert Drachman author Harold Bell Wright and Bishop Daniel Gercke is completed by 1927 A new convent and chapel is designed by Merritt H Starkweather and built by A C Jacobson The convent is dedicated January 30 1927The chapel is named St Catherines to honor the mother of Thomas E Murray Jr a benefactor of the Sisters It is dedicated December 7 1928

In 1928 St Marys is accredited by the American College of Surgeons the first national group to set hospital standards That year 1971 patients are cared for 1139 operations are performed and 80 births are recorded at the hospital

1930s
Precious hospital income is lost in 1930 when the Southern Pacific Railroad opens its own facility on Congress Street and closes its St Marys clinic

In 1931 Chester Reynolds MD is St Marys first intern In spite of looming financial problems two stories are added to the North Wing increasing the hospitals capacity to 185 beds and 20 bassinetsThe American Medical Association AMA approves St Marys medical residency program after the hospital opens a medical library in 1933 with an adjoining large conference room morgue and autopsy room During 1935 3036 patients are admitted 1688 operations are performed and 169 babies are born Hospital rates range from 15 a day for a suite to 3 a day for a bed in the ward Private duty nurses now work a 12hour shift instead of a 20hour shift

In October 1936 Sisters at the hospital may wear white habits and veils instead of full length heavy black serge habits and starched coverall aprons

St Marys School of Nursing gains national recognition in May 1936 when Helen Clark Doyle is selected by United Airlines out of 3000 candidates as the American Nurses Associations quotPerfect Nursequot The dedication ceremony for the fourstory South Wing is broadcast in 1939 over Tucsons radio station KTUC Designed by Roy Place the wing adds 50 beds 11 for the first pediatric unit In May the nursing school graduates Arizonas first two male registered nurses St Marys is the only general hospital in Tucson to survive the Great Depression

1940s
In 1940 Clark amp Company Heating and Cooling installed the first cabinet air conditioners in the hospitals surgical suites and nursery The operating rooms begin a blood transfusion program

By 1942 with the US entering World War II more than half of St Marys physicians and nurses enlist for military duty The Federal Government organizes the Cadet Nursing Corps and students tuition and expenses are paid a first for the hospital

St Marys ninestory Central Services Building opens in 1951 bringing the hospital bed total to 375 The Nursery Department adds 18 incubators to assist premature infants


1950s
The polio epidemic sweeps the US between 1942 and 1956 In 1952 St Marys is designated as a national diagnostic and treatment facility That year more than 330 polio patients are treated

In 1953 St Marys reports 2500 live births with no maternal deaths

The first use of nuclear medicine in Arizona is performed when St Marys doctors use a radioactive isotope to diagnose and treat a thyroid disorder

In 1954 22 women organize St Marys Auxiliary

In 1956 St Marys Hospital is annexed into the City of Tucson

In 1959 St Marys acquires a heartlung machine and surgeons perform Arizonas first open heart surgery on an 8yearold girl Tucsons first artificial kidney machine is set up at the hospital

From 1950 to 1960 Tucsons population grows from 88700 to more than 210000 Facing an acute hospital bed shortage Tucson Medical Center and St Marys share a fundraising campaign and set funds aside for a new eastside hospital

1960s
Sponsored by the Eliot Spalding Foundation the hospitals Cardiovascular Center opens in 1960 the same year Tucsons first pacemaker is implanted in a female patient at St Marys

The Sisters dedicate the 124bed St Josephs Hospital May 1 1961 on Tucsons east side

In 1962 the hospital opens the Critical Care Unit and trains its first cardiac arrest team who respond to the summons of quotEmergency Dr Stillheartquot

With little need for a tuberculosis sanatorium the quotRound Buildingquot at St Marys is torn down in 1965 St Marys School of Nursings last class graduates in May 1966 joining the ranks of nearly 900 alumnae Medicare funding begins in 1966 revolutionizing hospital care and complicating billing procedures St Marys acquires its first computer to assist patient accounting

The Centurions a fundraising group of business and civic leaders is organized in December 1968 to support St Marys

With the support of the Tucson firefighters St Marys opens a threebed patient unit in 1969 as southern Arizonas first facility dedicated to burn care


1970s
St Marys Rehabilitation Services are formally organized in 1971 by Stuart Holtzman MD who will serve as medical director for nearly 20 years

In 1971 St Marys community mental health facility opens The hospitals fourstory North Wing opens Arizonas Paramedic Training Program is created by St Marys and Pima Community College in 1974 Fourteen students graduate in the first class

In the spring of 1977 the old nursing school and St Marys South Annex are torn down In 1978 the old convent is demolished to make room for additional hospital expansion A new convent is opened near Tumamoc Hill

On October 1 1978 St Marys Obstetrics unit closes due to the declining birth rate An average of 72 babies a year are born over the last four years of operation

In 1979 St Marys huge West Wing opens and almost all patient care is moved to the new facility On September 4 a special unit dedicated to outpatient surgery opens in response to this new trend in hospital care

1980s
In December 1980 St Marys is one of the first hospitals in the United States to open a Hospice unit In 1981 the Sisters are asked by the Diocese of Tucson to run what at the time was called St Josephs Hospital in Nogales AZ on behalf of the Minim Sisters

St Marys is honored by the American Academy of Nursing in 1982 as one of the nations 14 quotmagnetquot hospitals for excellence The Sisters hospitals in southern Arizona join with others across the US to form the Health Care Corp of the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet

In 1983 St Marys and St Josephs hospitals in Tucson merge sharing their management services and supplies St Marys develops its Nurse Case Management Program and Home Health Services in 1984

In 1987 the Sisters purchase the Nogales hospital and name it Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital Carondelet Holy Family Center opens near St Marys for adults who need skilled nursing care

1990 And Beyond
The hospitals first Community Health Center opens at Pio Decimo in 1990 Today nearly 20 are located throughout Pima and Santa Cruz counties

In 1992 Casita Maria an intergenerational child care center opens for children of St Marys staff The Carondelet Medical Mall in Green Valley opens

In 1993 on the site of the old South Wing a 178 million addition and renovation of the hospitals operating rooms and diagnostic suites are completed A new patient admitting area is also opened A new chapel is built using religious relics ceiling beams bells and doors from St Catherines Chapel A threestory comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation center with medical offices and parking garage is added

In 1994 The Healthy Seniors Program a 5 million nationallyfunded Medicare research project is launched through Carondelets Community Nursing Organization for residents in Pima and Santa Cruz counties The statue of the Virgin Mary and Infant Christ is commissioned from Italy to grace the new main entrance of the hospital Carondelet Home Health expands its array of services and opens a new office and medical equipment showroom

After a 17year break in services obstetrics returns to St Marys in 1995 with the opening of a 19bed 22bassinet MaternalNewborn Unit The 125th anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet to Tucson is celebrated In its 26th year of operation a major renovation of the hospitals Burn Unit is launched to enhance inpatient and outpatient services

Today Carondelet St Marys Hospital part of Carondelet Health Network remains the flagship for southern Arizonas oldest and largest notforprofit health care provider As a founding member of the National Chronic Care Consortium hospital staff are working to create a quotcontinuum of carequot for patients where they can receive health care services at home in the community in an outpatient or inpatient setting or at a longterm care center Carondelets services cover southern Arizona In addition to St Marys Hospital Carondelet sites in Tucson include St Josephs Hospital the Cerelle Center for Mammography and Carondelet Imaging Services Central Among Carondelets other facilities are Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales the Medical Mall of Green Valley and Carondelet Medical Group offices throughout southern Arizona

Carondelet Health Network is part of the Carondelet Health System a nationwide network of hospitals operated by the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet which in addition to Arizona have health care services in New York Minnesota Georgia Idaho Washington California Missouri Kansas and Wisconsin