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Description

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Mary Breckinridge Hospital is a private not for profit solecommunity hospital located in the beautiful mountains of Southeastern Kentucky in the heart of the Daniel Boone National Forest Today Mary Breckinridge Hospital continues to meet the challenges facing small rural hospitals In September of 2003 the hospital converted to a Critical Access Hospital with 25 beds to be used in any combination of acute inpatient and swing beds providing basic necessary services to the community maintains an annual average length of stay of less than 96 hours and networks with other healthcare providers to ensure that the healthcare needs of the community are met The hospital has a fully equipped Emergency Room and offers a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services including general surgical services

Mary Breckinridge Hospital is the only hospital in Leslie County located in Hyden the county seat of Leslie County with a population of over 13000 Our service area includes all of Leslie County parts of Perry Clay and Harlan Counties

Mary Breckinridge Hospital is licensed by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Office of the Inspector General as a Critical Access Hospital and is a member of the Kentucky Hospital Association and the HydenLeslie County Chamber of Commerce

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History

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Mrs Mary Breckinridge
Mary Breckinridge was born February 171881 in Memphis Tennessee to a southern aristocratic family She was the great granddaughter of Thomas Jeffersons attorney the granddaughter of the VicePresident of the United States under President Buchanan and the daughter of a United States Ambassador to Russia Her education consisted primarily of private tutors in Washington DC and in St Petersburg She was taught by the most renowned tutors of the day Her family traveled extensively so she was exposed to many different cultures and lifestyles

At the age of 23 Mrs Breckinridge married an attorney she believed he was her soul mate and she spoke of how her heart was full of passion just to simply stand near him Their martial bliss would last for only a fleeting two years as he would die from appendicitis

At the age of 26 Mrs Breckinridge attended the St Lukes school of nursing and in 1910 graduated with a degree in nursing

In 1912 Mrs Breckinridge married her second husband and from that union two children were born Prior to becoming a mother Mrs Breckinridge taught French and Hygiene at Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women in Eureka Springs Arkansas where her husband was also the President of the college Her first child Clifford Breckinridge Breckie Thompson was born in 1914 She called Breckie a fair haired wonder In July 1916 tragedy struck Mrs Breckinridge gave birth to her daughter Polly who was born prematurely and died after only six hours Mrs Breckinridge spoke of Pollys passing and encouraged women who had endured the same loss to keep the baby alive in their heart She also said The more we seek to hold our children to ourselves the less they are ours

On a cold and brisk January morning in 1918 something would happen that would shake the very foundation of all that Mrs Breckinridge believed in At the age of four Breckie would subsume to appendicitis She was devastated from that moment life as she knew it changed forever

In 1920 Mary Breckinridge did something that was unheard of in that day She filed for divorce and asked the court to restore her maiden name She said her generation thought it in poor taste to discuss a broken marriage She later revealed that in the days to follow she made a promise to herself and that she would never love anyone and would never allow anyone to love her

After the death of her children and the divorce she turned to nursing for comfort and strength She joined the American Committee for Devastated France following the end of World War I While in Europe she became acquainted with the nursemidwives in France and Great Britain and thought with their training she could perhaps meet the problem of medical care for mothers and babies in rural America It was during this time Mrs Breckinridge recognized a call upon her life She relayed to her mother that she was sure this was what she was meant to do

At the age of 43 Mrs Breckinridge returned to England to study midwifery since no course was offered in the United States She secured the necessary training at the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies and obtained her certificate from the Central Midwives Board