Nathan Littauer Hospital

Description

About Nathan Littauer
Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home is a fullservice 74 bed acute care hospital with an 84 bed skilled nursing home Littauer provides the finest in stateoftheart technology and a caring dedicated staff of health care professionals

Over the years the hospital has expanded its services in order offer health care that is comprehensive accessible and relevant to the needs of the communities we serve The Littauer medical staff brings amazing technical expertise and competence to the residents of Fulton County and the surrounding communities

At Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home were people caring for people

Mission Statement
Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home and its Family of Health Services is committed to providing safe highquality health and wellness services and improving the health of our communities in a caring contemporary environment

History

1891 1919
On May 21 1891 the Gloversville Hospital Association was formed to establish a Hospital in the city of Gloversville Later that year a local businessman Lucius N Littauer offered 25000 to build a Hospital in memory of his father Nathan Littauer Mr Littauers act of generosity stirred the citizens of the community to contribute another 10000 and on May 30 1894 the original Nathan Littauer Hospital was opened on Littauer Place in Gloversville with 28 beds and a medicalsurgical staff of 11 The School of Nursing opened later that year and the first birth was recorded in 1895 By 1919 the Hospital had admitted nearly 10000 people and recorded 250 births

In the 1920s and 30s greater demand for hospital services resulted in the addition of a new 35bed patient wing while renovations were made to the original building An Xray department opened and the operating and delivery rooms were renovated The first free prenatal clinic opened as did the Eugene Littauer Laboratory Demand for services continued and 50 more beds were added in the 1930s The community continues its annual tradition of donating to the Hospital

The 1940s brought the baby boom A 23bed maternity unit opened because annual births jumped from 423 in 1940 to 1066 in 1947 Admissions topped 93000 since 1894 Postwar health and medical services were expanding so the Hospital Board commissioned a study on how to modernize and improve the facility built by Lucius Littauer

The 1950s began with the creation of Littauers own Blood Bank allowing surgeons to perform the surgeries they previously had to send on to larger hospitals It ended with Littauers first intensive care unit and the medical specialty cardiology being introduced in the community

By the early 1960s the Board had outlined the urgent case for a new hospital to replace the now antiquated inefficient original building The proposed 124bed facility would cost 3 million and have the space to accommodate the new technologies and the highly skilled technicians to operate them The quotnewquot Nathan Littauer Hospital opened in September 1968 due in part to a record 1 million donated by the community Sadly the School of Nursing graduated its last class in 1969

The 1970s saw a growth on the Hospital campus with the addition of a skilled nursing facility and a medical artsphysician office building

By the 1980s Littauer was again bursting at the seams Too few doctors resulted in more than 33000 people per year using the Emergency Department 10000 of which were simply seeking routine care A more spacious Emergency Department opened in 1983 along with the renovation of rehabilitative medicine respiratorycardiopulmonary care and a stateoftheart critical care unit The pavillion housing the Emergency Department and the critical care unit was named for Harry Starr President of the Lucius Littauer Foundation and benefactor of Nathan LIttauer Hospital Responding to the need for more doctors and a greater accessibility to health care our first outpatient primary care center was approved by the New York State Department of Health With the cost of health care rising the Nathan Littauer Foundation was established to assist the Hospital in raising money for advanced technology and services The community responded by donating 17 million At decades end HealthLink opened to provide free or lowcost health and wellness services

The 1990s celebrated Nathan Littauer Hospitals 100th year Responding to community needs we partnered with the Chamber of Commerce to provide occupational medicine services to local companies The Sleep Disorders Center opened in 1997 Our first familycentered birthing rooms with hydrotherapy tubs opened in 1996 But it was the growing need for primary carephysician services that defined this decade as Littauer opened outpatient centers in Gloversville Johnstown Mayfield and Speculator offering adult medicine pediatrics OBGYN general surgery and occupational medicine 30000 visits were made annually

So far in the 21st century Littauer has opened a new surgical center for which the community donated over 4 million opened additional primary care centers in Gloversville Caroga Lake Perth and two more in Johnstown along with hiring specialists in urology family medicine orthopedics and neurology In 2006 the fiveyear 16 million Littauer Campaign and Strategic Plan for Excellence commenced to improve Littauers technology computerization and facilities resulting in improved patient care The Radiology Department became fully digitalized with the acquisition of the highspeed 64slice CT scanner and a nuclear medicine camera Five million dollars were invested in equipment for virtually every department including significant acquisitions in the operating room The 41yearold maternity unit was renovated in 2009 and the expansion and renovation of 27yearold Emergency Department was completed in 2010 The third floor patient rooms were renovated in 2006 The electronic medical record is currently being created

This Campaign for Excellence furthered Littauers commitment to shape the best health care team using the best equipment to deliver the best health care The community responded again by donating over 41 million

Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville and our network of 9 outpatient primaryspecialty care centers serves a tricounty area of over 100000 people More than 196 physicians and providers in 28 specialties are on Littauers medical staff We are the second largest employer in Fulton County with over 960 nurses technicians office personnel and support staff A quotby the numbersquot snapshot of 2010 shows the continuing demand for Littauer services