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Description

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Our Mission
Staten Island University Hospital is dedicated to providing our community with the best possible quality care through continuous quality improvement efforts We consider employees to be our greatest resource We continually examine the way we do our work in order to make improvements and prevent errors Exceeding the needs and expectations of our customers is the basis for all that we do

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History

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1861 Founded as a small oneroom infirmary to attend to the needs of the Islands medicallyindigent Population of Staten Island 25000

1864 Constituted as the Samuel R Smith Infirmary and relocated to an old building at the government quarantine station on Tompkins Avenue

1868 The trustees yearend report shows a total number of 88 inpatients and lists 57 of them as quotcuredquot

1869 The Smith Infirmary is incorporated under New York State law as Staten Islands first notforprofit voluntary hospital

1870 In June the Infirmary moves into Dr Smiths former residence on Hannah Street There were twelve beds five of which soon became private pay 1875 Our very first Charity Ball to raise funds for the fledgling hospital

1890 The Infirmary moves from the small house on Hannah Street to a sixacre site on Castleton Avenue New Brighton By the end of its first full year of operation 346 inpatients and approximately 600 outpatients have been treated Emerging as centers for healing hospitals are becoming community resources and no longer bear the stigma of poverty During the 1890s much was to happen to revolutionize medicine and surgery 1890s witnessed the development of antityphoid inoculation the isolation of the hormone adrenaline and one of Americas most important contributions medical knowledge the discovery of insectborne disease

1894 The first Training School for Nurses opens with a class of eight young women

1895 The nurses and administrators of the nursing school responsive to new developments in the medical field outfit the hospitals first operating room and staff it with Operating Room nurses conversant in the practice of quotantiseptic sterile techniquequot

1897 One year after its development the first operation using xray occurs

1898 The United States warships Rio Grande Leona and Concho sail into New York harbor with wounded from the SpanishAmerican War Horsedrawn ambulances from Staten Island Hospital transfer the wounded to the Castleton Avenue facility for treatment

The five boroughs are consolidated into the City of New York

1904 A new steam heating plant is built and phones are added to facilitate communication between hospital buildings

1905 An emergency medical service is inaugurated

190506 The first xray darkroom and a new maternity unit with 40 beds are added

1907 A second nurses residence is completed and opened

1910 Census places the population of Staten Island at 80000 plus

191011 A full conversion from gas to electrical lighting is completed

1911 The number of admissions for the year is listed as 3170 of which 2153 are surgical cases

1912 A motorized ambulance is purchased manufactured by Chalmers Motors for 2800

1913 The Infirmary welcomes its first Security Department and launches the Department of Social Services

1913 In Ambulatory Care orthopedic and dental clinics are opened and plans are made for an outpatient psychiatry service

1916 The trustees rename the facility quotThe Staten Island Hospitalquot because it benefits all Staten Islanders

1918 A flu epidemic claims 150 lives on Staten Island Polio takes the lives of nearly 100 young Islanders

1925 A large fundraising campaign nets over 500000 for the hospital and is used to construct modern units

1926 Realtor David Tysen contributes 200000 for the construction of a third home for nurses the Tysen Home

1927 The hospital begins an affiliation with the United States Marine Hospital Clifton to train residents in ObGyn and Pediatrics

1931 The hospital establishes a very unique blood bank using the blood of 33 donors who had survived bouts with poliomyelitis and thus built some immunity to the disease A report concerning the matter reads quotIn all 90 quarts of blood have been taken and no deaths have occurred at the hospital since the serum treatment was adoptedquot Staten Island Hospital was later commended by the American Medical Association for its pioneering work with poliomyelitis serum

Feeling the economic pinch of the Great Depression the chairman of the Training School for Nurses recommends that in the future student nurses be recruited without renumeration Prior to this time nurses were supplied with uniforms and given a monthly stipend of 18 subsequently reduced to 12
1941 At the December 23rd meeting of the board of trustees held 16 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor a vote is made to establish a Defense Committee quotwith the power to act to confer with and to assist the Superintendent in activities pertinent to the defense program of the hospitalquot

1946 On March 7th the final class graduates from the Training School for Nurses

1965 The trustees commission the first feasibility study for the modernization and expansion of the Castleton Avenue facility and hire an architectural firm to submit a master plan It appears that the construction of an entirely new complex may make the most sense

1966 Dr Thomas McGinn is hired as the first Director of Medical Education Within five years the hospital develops affiliations with several major medical schools including SUNY Downstate for the training of house staff interns and residents

1970 The decision is made to relocate to Ocean Breeze

1971 The hospital now has approved residencies in Medicine Surgery ObGyn Pediatrics and Dentistry

1976 In September the board hosts the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Staten Island Hospital on Seaview Avenue

1979 The Staten Island Hospital moves into the new ultra hightech facility at its present north campus at 475 Seaview Avenue

1989 Following a consolidation of The Staten Island Hospital and Richmond Memorial Hospital systemwide development begins as Staten Island University Hospital

1990 Opening of the Salvatore amp Elena Esposito Information amp Referral Service for Parkinsons Disease and the Center for Hansens Disease

1991 The Sanford R Nalitt Institute for Cancer and BloodRelated Diseases opens followed by the dedication of the Irving R Boody Jr Ambulatory Care Pavilion a 55000 square foot facility devoted to outpatient care Community wellness outreach expands with the addition of the schoolbased clinic at New Dorp High School and the Bay Street Health Center

1992 University Hospice founded in 1987 affiliates with University Hospital

1994 Launch of our Community Wellness Center in the Staten Island Mall and Primary Care Centers in Brooklyn Also fostering outreach via the Breast Health Partnership and the Diabetes Education Program

1995 Inauguration of our new Center for Womens Health and the start of the Employee Wellness Program

1996 Were more quotcommunityquot than ever thanks to efforts in Community Case Management the Family Health Center at the Staten Island Mall the Community Health Service for MRDD and the new Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness

1996 On June 26th we celebrate our new affiliation with North Shore Health System As yearend draws near Staten Island University Hospital is named one of quotAmericas top 100 Hospitalsquot in a survey reported in Modern Healthcare

1997 For the second straight year Staten Island University Hospital is named one of quotAmericas top 100 Hospitalsquot in a survey reported in Modern Healthcare

1998 The Hospital opens a regional Burn Center as a natural extension of the comprehensive trauma services already provided at Staten Island University Hospital The 10bed Burn Care unit and outpatient Burn Center provide a full range of services for those who suffer burns burnlike injuries and firerelated injuries

Plans are announced to construct a new multistory cardiac surgery center to bring open heart surgery and supporting cardiac procedures to Staten Island for the first time

Plans for an expansion of the Hospitals Radiation Oncology facilities are announced to enhance the Radiosurgery Centers programs and to advance its reputation as one of the elite radiation oncology centers in America

2000 The Heart Institute of Staten Island a joint venture of Staten Island University Hospital and St Vincents Medical Centers of New York opens on two floors of a sixstory tower built for millennium age medicine at our North campus

2001 The first open heart surgery procedure on Staten Island inaugurates the Heart Institute Doctors Hospital of Staten Island is acquired by Staten Island University Hospital bringing the total beds in the system to 813