St. Mary's Health Inc. history

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

St Mary’s Health System, a member of Covenant Health, was founded in 1888 by the Sisters of Charity of Saint-Hyacinthe.

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.

On April 19, 1903, five Sisters of St Joseph opened the doors of St Mary's Hospital and began a ministry of healing and compassion.

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.

In 1917, the Sisters of Mercy opened St Jerome Hospital after Batavia resident Rose Jerome willed her family home on Bank Street to the order for use as a school or hospital.

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.

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.

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.

The hospital is closed in 1937 following their deaths.

Founded in 1938, St Mary’s Medical Center is a 460-bed, acute care hospital that provides medical, surgical, obstetrical, pediatric, trauma and emergency services to a five-county area.

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

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

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.

A new convent is opened near Tumamoc Hill.On October 1, 1978, St Mary's Obstetrics unit closes due to the declining birth rate.

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

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.

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

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.

In 1997, St Mary’s Hospital merged with Park Ridge Hospital (now Unity Hospital) to form Unity Health System.

In 2000, the Atlantic Health System purchased the Passaic General Hospital.