MARYMOUNT HOSPITAL - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

MARYMOUNT HOSPITAL, was opened in 1949 as a not-for-profit acute-care hospital in GARFIELD HEIGHTS; it was the first in the area to offer twenty-four-hour emergency room service. Operated by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Third Order of Saint Francis, it has offered in-patient care in medicine, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, and psychiatry, as well as outpatient care through its emergency room, and customary diagnosis and therapy services.

In 1939 a group of physicians noted a shortage of hospital beds and emergency treatment facilities in the Garfield Heights area and joined with the Sisters of Saint Joseph. The two groups established an advisory board in 1945, and three years later opened a new 100-bed hospital on McCracken Road in Garfield Heights, staffed by the Saint Joseph Sisters. Among the founders were Mother Mary Theobold and Warren Chase; Chester Jablonski and Edmund Lewandowski helped obtain initial financial support. Within its first ten years, Marymount more than doubled its bed count to 279. Saint Joseph's Teaching Annex was added in 1959 to house the newly established School of Practical Nursing (see NURSING) in November 1960. By the mid-1960s, Marymount offered an emergency room, x-ray, and laboratory services in addition to basic medical services. Marymount was one of the first hospitals of its size to have a coronary unit (1967), an in-house nurse-training program, psychiatric beds in general care, and a clinical engineer. In 1972 a new comprehensive Mental Health Center opened, financed mostly by federal and state funds. Additional expansion and renovations began in the early 1980s, and the hospital entered into cooperative ventures with ST. ALEXIS HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER and SAINT VINCENT CHARITY HOSPITAL AND HEALTH CENTER. In 1990 Marymount Hospital became a member of the UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS CASE MEDICAL CENTER OF CLEVELAND network of affiliates (established in 1987). In 1997 Marymount joined with seven other community hospitals and became part of the CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION. In 2006 Marymount Hospital offered programs and services such as Women's Health Services, the Diabetes Center, Stroke Services, as well as a Regional Radiology Center that was operated and equipped in conjunction with The Cleveland Clinic.

See also MEDICINE, HOSPITALS & HEALTH PLANNING.

Related Article(s)

• MEDICINE

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• Marymount Hospital - Hospital History