{"id":14372,"date":"2024-07-28T06:02:39","date_gmt":"2024-07-28T13:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/?p=14372"},"modified":"2024-07-28T06:06:18","modified_gmt":"2024-07-28T13:06:18","slug":"st-vincents-medical-center-a-story-from-success-to-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/eternal-st-vincents-medical-center-a-story-from-success-to-decline","title":{"rendered":"St. Vincent\u2019s Medical Center &#8211; a story from success to decline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1856, after arriving in California from Maryland, four members of the Daughters of Charity opened a small school and orphanage in Los Angeles at the request of the Bishop of Los Angeles. Shortly thereafter, they also started caring for the sick. This small hospital, the Los Angeles Infirmary, became the city&#8217;s first permanent medical institution. In 1860, the sisters relocated the hospital to 1414 Naud Street. They assumed ownership of this facility in 1869, becoming the first women to incorporate in Southern California. Learn more at <a href=\"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/uk\">i-los-angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By 1898, the Los Angeles infirmary became known as Sisters Hospital. The hospital was called by these two names for a long time. The hospital was officially renamed St. Vincent&#8217;s Medical Center in 1918. There is another medical institution in Los Angeles that employs innovative approaches, <a href=\"https:\/\/losangeles1.one\/uk\/eternal\/cedars-sinai-medical-center-innovaczijna-likarnya-v-los-andzhelesi-2864\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cedars-Sinai Medical Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3355f249dcd\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3355f249dcd\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/eternal-st-vincents-medical-center-a-story-from-success-to-decline\/#Founding_of_the_hospital\" >Founding of the hospital<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/eternal-st-vincents-medical-center-a-story-from-success-to-decline\/#Fire_at_the_hospital\" >Fire at the hospital<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/eternal-st-vincents-medical-center-a-story-from-success-to-decline\/#St_Vincents_Foundation\" >St. Vincent&#8217;s Foundation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/eternal-st-vincents-medical-center-a-story-from-success-to-decline\/#Hospital_services\" >Hospital services<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/eternal-st-vincents-medical-center-a-story-from-success-to-decline\/#Closing_the_hospital\" >Closing the hospital<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Founding_of_the_hospital\"><\/span>Founding of the hospital<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">St. Vincent&#8217;s Medical Center is the first hospital in Los Angeles. In the 21st century, the extensive six-story campus houses the only historical center and museum of medicine in the Western United States. It is a 3,000-square-foot research center and museum that chronicles the history of medicine in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The archives include detailed information on the early stages of the medical center, which was established over 150 years ago. The hospital was founded by six Roman Catholic nuns with the involvement of Jewish, Protestant and Catholic pioneers. The Daughters of Charity not only provided medicals but also kept records. They monitored the growth of the area and particularly paid attention to dangerous diseases, such as the smallpox epidemic in 1863 and the typhoid outbreak in 1905.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-los-angeles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2024\/05\/17102903\/xdq4ye8oowjrwvfo_qeehjg79ye61uuserc3vndixllobvkwl9mnzwkwktcj-bnldg98f8m_d_f3myr_dkorzg99kcyx1tue1pos3hme0fd1amhfdwmwf4q1kgrfpgxtrll6qjp_wdhxshforumfaja.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The documents in the museum trace the history of the hospital back to 1856 when six Daughters of Charity arrived on the passenger steamer &#8220;Sea Bird&#8221; and disembarked in San Pedro. The supervisory board temporarily leased a four-room house to the sisters, where the nuns, under the leadership of Sister Anne Gillen, began their mission of mercy, caring for the sick and poor in an eight-bed facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking for larger quarters, the sisters soon acquired a five-acre plot. They tirelessly worked at various jobs to support the hospital. The women grew 300 trees and 6000 vines near the orphanage and school. They gathered and sold fruits and grapes. The Daughters of Charity also raised livestock, marking them with the letters &#8220;S&#8221; and &#8220;C&#8221;. According to records, within the first seven months, 52 patients from the district and 11 private patients were hospitalized. Ten patients died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The nuns believed they were serving God, and mundane rules imposed by the local Catholic bishop, Thaddeus Amat, stopped them. Amat wanted to register their property in his name. In late 19th century America, it was common for all Catholic bishops to bring the businesses of immigrant nuns and priests under local control. Instead of complying with his wishes, the self-sufficient sisters formed a corporation in 1869 and created the Los Angeles Infirmary. The Daughters of Charity paid $10,000 for 6.5 acres of land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fire_at_the_hospital\"><\/span>Fire at the hospital<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On January 22, 1927, pre-dawn flames produced thick black smoke swirling through the hospital while 127 patients were sleeping. When the fire engulfed the upper floors of the wooden hospital, Sister and director Mary Ann and telephone operator Josephine Tracy, along with other nuns, helped move all patients, including 28 newborns, to a safe place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ten months after the fire, a 250-bed eight-story brick building in the Italian Renaissance style opened on 3rd Street and Alvarado Street. The hospital included 25 executives, 75 associate doctors and 100 nurses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"St_Vincents_Foundation\"><\/span>St. Vincent&#8217;s Foundation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">St. Vincent&#8217;s Foundation was registered in 1989 as a non-profit public corporation. Charitable donations and contributions collected by the foundation helped finance the purchase of new equipment, expansion of hospital facilities, medical services and community outreach programs. The foundation raised funds through grants, special events and individual benefactors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-los-angeles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2024\/05\/17102901\/951iecw_ypuolckymqzwvrteru5mjgjtekkbcpm2cshxeehjpptp2occphrfybmxidjcczedf6xlcns7gth_4cpotyy0fprzpqcsu_9vuyi3cbzqvys2vyka5p5cvrv3-pgvvj1dwxzxrp5csu3bqno.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2014, the foundation raised over 2 million dollars. This amount included over 547,000 dollars in unrestricted donations and nearly 1.5 million dollars in limited donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During 2014, the foundation provided funding for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Physical, occupational and speech therapy services to support patient rehabilitation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Building improvements, including the installation of a new boiler costing 353,245 dollars<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Multicultural Health Awareness and Prevention Center for medical education and disease prevention services for ethnic communities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Hospital_services\"><\/span>Hospital services<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Licensed general acute care hospital with 366 beds served residents of central Los Angeles. The hospital provided specialized and tertiary care services focusing on chronic diseases, including oncology, rehabilitation, neurosurgery, nephrology and transplantation services. The hospital did not provide maternal and child health care or obstetric services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-los-angeles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2024\/05\/17102900\/uxeamr428mg55ajwcmjsx3wcgpgucon60t0lx6w5zj_xcbovfkdvumudblfeszqwd1uafuhdhpxmr0b2zfkwbon0mymdjtnc9kzs7s5hgheek-wap-md7kmoisicej6n8r53d2c5gcdi-9tzx83ccja.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hospital&#8217;s main services included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rehabilitation services: 19 licensed beds, an impatient emergency department providing care for patients with stroke, burns, spinal cord trauma, trauma, joint replacements and traumatic brain injuries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Outpatient rehabilitation services included spine stabilization, rehabilitation after sports injuries, self-care training as well as professional, physical and speech therapy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cardiovascular services included cardiac catheterization procedures, cardiovascular surgeries such as open-heart surgery and pacemaker implantation as well as treatment of high blood pressure, accelerated heart rate, blocked arteries or veins and weak valves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Emergency services included a 24-hour emergency department with eight treatment stations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gastroenterological services included diagnostic and treatment of liver, pancreas and gastrointestinal tract diseases.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nephrological services included inpatient and outpatient dialysis services, kidney and pancreas transplantation, as well as a treatment plan for end-stage renal disease for patients with chronic kidney disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Closing_the_hospital\"><\/span>Closing the hospital<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">St. Vincent&#8217;s Medical Center, one of the oldest hospitals in Los Angeles, has closed its doors forever. This happened after the dissolution of a previous property acquisition agreement. The hospital&#8217;s owner filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and ultimately announced that the hospital would close on January 6. This news surprised the community of Los Angeles, as well as the staff and patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-los-angeles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2024\/05\/17102859\/agnivbpowvohodascqmotozdvf4xyfcpczwtr9hnv6_lmhrpi8o8jj5gxs29wzdux3lsgb0uyiz9y09go7xsqtyzazkkl_de0hs3qtx_mcku5mq2he8p9nuohujgtamcchojeiruo_l8vo4b3pbea84.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A petition registered by Los Angeles City Council member Mitch O&#8217;Farrell calling for the closed St. Vincent&#8217;s Medical Center exceeded 1,000 signatures in just a few days. In the petition, people demanded to reopen the hospital as an acute center for people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The vacant 381-bed hospital belonged to Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, whom O&#8217;Farrell called &#8220;the richest man in Los Angeles.&#8221; Soon-Shiong is a transplant surgeon, also known as the owner of the Los Angeles Times. He bought the property in April 2020. The County of Los Angeles had applied to purchase it several months earlier for use as housing and assistance for homeless people. The previous owner, Verity Health System, had entered into a partnership with the state in March 2020 to open the hospital for COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1856, after arriving in California from Maryland, four members of the Daughters of Charity opened a small school and orphanage in Los Angeles at the request of the Bishop of Los Angeles. Shortly thereafter, they also started caring for the sick. This small hospital, the Los Angeles Infirmary, became the city&#8217;s first permanent medical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":13805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4817],"tags":[7016,7022,7018,7013,7017,7024,7014,7020,7019,7023,7015,7021],"moimportance":[656,31,32,35],"motype":[4825],"moformat":[83],"class_list":["post-14372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthy","tag-as-well-as-the-staff-and-patients","tag-became-the-citys-first-permanent-medical-institution","tag-by-1898","tag-closing-the-hospital","tag-founding-of-the-hospital","tag-shortly-thereafter","tag-the-hospitals-owner-filed-for-bankruptcy-in-2018-and-ultimately-announced-that-the-hospital-would-close-on-january-6","tag-the-los-angeles-infirmary","tag-the-los-angeles-infirmary-became-known-as-sisters-hospital-the-hospital-was-called-by-these-two-names-for-a-long-time","tag-they-also-started-caring-for-the-sick-this-small-hospital","tag-this-news-surprised-the-community-of-los-angeles","tag-this-small-hospital","moimportance-trending","moimportance-aktualna-bilshe-roku","moimportance-golovna-novyna","moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory","motype-eternal","moformat-longread-short"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14373,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14372\/revisions\/14373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14372"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=14372"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=14372"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-los-angeles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=14372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}