Printer-friendly format

Saint Thomas Hospital circa 1898

Often described as the “Daughter’s hospital,” the “heart hospital,” or the “hospital with a soul,” Saint Thomas Hospital celebrates 110 years of service to the Nashville community this month.

“For 110 years, this hospital has been devoted to physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Our mission is to serve all persons, with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable, while improving the health of individuals and communities,” said Sister Mary Kay Tyrell, D.C., senior vice president of mission for Saint Thomas Health Services. “Extraordinary effort is made to care for patients and their loved ones in every way, with attention to the details that make the difference. This milestone signifies a wonderful living ministry.”

It was in 1633 when Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Louise de Marillac founded the Daughters of Charity in Paris, France. This Catholic community of religious women organized and trained young peasant women to take food and other necessities to the homes of the less fortunate and to care for the hospitalized.

In 1898, Thomas Sebastian Byrne, the fifth Catholic Bishop of Nashville, asked the Daughters of Charity to establish a hospital in Nashville. Ensworth, home of Judge Joseph McGavock Dickinson on Hayes Street, was purchased for the new hospital. The 16-room facility opened its doors in April of that year. In addition to private rooms, the house had been converted into wards, one with eight beds and others with two or four, for a total of 26 beds. It also included a kitchen, chapel, and living quarters for five sisters.

Today, Saint Thomas Hospital is a 541-bed facility has more than 1,800 employees and 750 physicians on staff providing adult specialty healthcare to the more than 2 million residents of Middle Tennessee, Southwestern Kentucky and Northern Alabama. Saint Thomas Health Services, the regional network, is a member of Ascension Health, a Catholic organization that is the largest not-for-profit health system in the United States.



April 2008

Tags:

None

Login and voice your opinion!