CARONDELET CARDIOLOGY SERVICES history

In 1870, seven Sisters of St Joseph traveled from San Diego to Tucson to open a school.

The Southern Pacific Railroad arrives in Tucson a month before the dedication of the 12-bed St Mary's Hospital on April 24, 1880.

In 1882, Bishop Salpointe sells St Mary's to the Sisters for $20,000 and the promise that it retain its name and remain a hospital for 99 years.

Construction of another addition is begun on the north side of the faculty.By 1884, the hospital accommodates 50 patients.

Michael Spencer, Hiram Fenner, Henri Matas and Pierre Guiot.In 1891, George Goodfellow, M.D., a pioneer in treating gunshot wounds and abdominal surgery, moves from Tombstone to Tucson.

In 1893, Sister Fidelia McMahon is named superintendent of St Mary's, a position she will hold for 27 years.

1896 - The first hospital in Portage Health's history, originally known as St Mary's Hospital, was set up in Bishop John Vertin's family home.

In 1900, to care for the growing numbers of tubercular patients, Doctor Hiram W. Fenner designs and oversees the construction of a two-story circular sanatorium at St Mary's Hospital.

In 1907, St Mary's Hospital and Convent receive electricity.

The first month's bill is $19.40.St Mary's opens the Nursing School in 1914 with classrooms, dorms and a two-and-a-half-year-long curriculum.

The Sisters offer the hospital as a place to care for wounded soldiers.In 1918, Tucsonans find themselves caught in the grip of a global influenza epidemic.

1920 - St Joseph's School of Nursing, another important part of Portage Health's history, began.

In 1921, three doctors at St Mary's are certified as Fellows of the American College of Surgeons: Drs.

The convent is dedicated January 30, 1927.The chapel is named St Catherine's to honor the mother of Thomas E. Murray, Jr., a benefactor of the Sisters.

Precious hospital income is lost in 1930 when the Southern Pacific Railroad opens its own facility on Congress Street and closes its St Mary's clinic.

1931 - St Joseph's Hospital was expanded when a chapel and nurses residences were completed.

The American Medical Association (AMA) approves St Mary's medical residency program after the hospital opens a medical library in 1933 with an adjoining large conference room, morgue and autopsy room.

In October 1936, Sisters at the hospital may wear white habits and veils instead of full-length, heavy black serge habits and starched coverall aprons.

St Mary's nine-story Central Services Building opens in 1951, bringing the hospital bed total to 375.

In 1952, St Mary's is designated as a national diagnostic and treatment facility.

In 1953, St Mary's reports 2,500 live births with no maternal deaths.

In 1954, 22 women organize St Mary's Auxiliary.

In 1956, St Mary's Hospital is annexed into the City of Tucson.

In 1959, St Mary's acquires a heart-lung machine and surgeons perform Arizona's first open heart surgery on an 8-year-old girl.

Sponsored by the Eliot Spalding Foundation, the hospital's Cardiovascular Center opens in 1960, the same year Tucson's first pacemaker is implanted in a female patient at St Mary's.

The Sisters dedicate the 124-bed St Joseph's Hospital May 1, 1961 on Tucson's east side.

With little need for a tuberculosis sanatorium, the "Round Building" at St Mary's is torn down in 1965.

St Mary's School of Nursing's last class graduates in May 1966, joining the ranks of nearly 900 alumnae.

With the support of the Tucson firefighters, St Mary's opens a three-bed patient unit in 1969 as southern Arizona's first facility dedicated to burn care.

1976 - Just four years later, the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet transferred ownership of the hospital to the community and, once again, its name changed, to Portage View Hospital.

In 1979, St Mary's huge West Wing opens and almost all patient care is moved to the new facility.

In December 1980, St Mary's is one of the first hospitals in the United States to open a hospice unit.

St Mary's is honored by the American Academy of Nursing in 1982 as one of the nation's 14 “Magnet” hospitals for excellence.

In 1983, St Mary's and St Joseph's hospitals in Tucson merge, sharing their management services and supplies.

Today nearly 20 are located throughout Pima and Santa Cruz counties.In 1992, Casita Maria, an intergenerational child care center, opens for children of St Mary's staff.

In 1994, The Healthy Seniors Program, a $5 million nationally funded Medicare research project, is launched through Carondelet's Community Nursing Organization for residents in Pima and Santa Cruz counties.

1997 - Groundbreaking for the new facility, which cost $29 million to build, took place on June 30.

The project, completed in January 2004, added more than 28,000 square feet of new space.

2006 - A new era in elder care commenced in the Copper Country with the expansion of PortagePointe, Portage’s senior living community.