Carondelet Health Network history

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.

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 1903, a surgical suite is created on St Mary's first floor containing operating, sterilizing and preparation rooms and a large emergency room.

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.

St Mary's medical staff is officially organized on February 16, 1917.

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.

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.

A new convent and chapel is designed by Merritt H. Starkweather and built by A. C. Jacobson. It is dedicated December 7, 1928.In 1928, St Mary's is accredited by the American College of Surgeons, the first national group to set hospital standards.

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.

In 1931, Chester Reynolds, M.D., is St Mary's first intern.

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.

During 1935, 3,036 patients are admitted, 1,688 operations are performed and 169 babies are born.

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.

In 1940, Clark & Company Heating and Cooling installed the first cabinet air conditioners in the hospital's surgical suites and nursery.

By 1942, with the United States entering World War II, more than half of St Mary's doctors and nurses enlist for military duty.

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.

In 1962, the hospital opens the Critical Care Unit and trains its first cardiac arrest team who respond to the summons of "Emergency, Doctor Stillheart!"

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.

The Centurions, a fundraising group of business and civic leaders, is organized in December 1968 to support St Mary's.

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.

Arizona's Paramedic Training Program is created by St Mary's and Pima Community College in 1974.

In the spring of 1977, the old nursing school and St Mary's South Annex are torn down.

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.

In 1981, the Sisters are asked by the Diocese of Tucson to run what, at the time, was called St Joseph's Hospital in Nogales, Arizona, on behalf of the Minim Sisters.

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.

St Mary's develops its Nurse Case Management Program and Home Health Services in 1984.

In 1987, the Sisters purchase the Nogales hospital and name it Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital.

The hospital's first Community Health Center opens at Pio Decimo in 1990.

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.

The Carondelet Medical Mall in Green Valley opens.In 1993, on the site of the old South Wing, a $17.8 million addition and renovation of the hospital's operating rooms and diagnostic suites are completed.

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.