Tulane University School of Medicine - T Wave Yearbook (New Orleans, LA)

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Charity Hospital of New Orleans: A Rich History a Poor State of Affairs by John E. Salvaggio, MD Henderson Professor of Medicine Charity Hospital embraces an intriguing and colorful past, and has served a real pur- pose. It is steeped in Louisiana history, and has survived difficult times and some of the worst political squabbles and patronage problems in the country, enduring for over 250 years primarily because it was needed. Its charter dates to January 1736, when Jean Louis, a French sailor formerly employed by the Company of the Indies who worked in New Orleans as a boat builder, bequeathed his estate of approxi- mately 10,000 livres (about $2,500 today) to the founding and furnishing of Charity Hospital in early French colonial Louisiana. This makes it the oldest continually operat- ing hospital in what is now United States territory. (Bellevue Hospital in New York City is also the same age, but was estab- lished two months after Charity.) Perhaps it was the abandonment of the poor, who could not be cared for at the French military or Royal Hospital, that induced Jean Louis to be so generous. Ini- tially called the Hospital of St. John or Le Hopital des Pauvres de la Charite (Hospital for the Poor), its charter came into effect upon Louis ' death. In his wisdom, Louis appointed the Reve- rend Father Philippe, Parish Cure and pas- tor of St. Louis Cathedral, to work with Councilman Raguet in disbursing his legacy and running the Hospital. Sunday collec- tions were taken in the cathedral to support Don Andres Almonester y Roxas, Early ► Charity Hospital Benefactor. it. In addition, several local individuals made donations of property in their wills. On March 10, 1736, a house at Chartres and Bienville Streets became the first quar- ters for the Hospital. Patients must have been admitted immediately, because only a month after its opening the house proved to be too small and by 1743 it became neces- sary to replace it. A governmental land grant at the ship-turn at the end of a canal and fronting on the cemetery was provided to build the new Hospital. This location was advantageous since supplies could be unloaded from the ships as well as patients transferred to or received at the Hospital. Its proximity to a cemetery was also of obvious advantage. After Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1763, the French were allowed to admin- ister Charity for six more years. With the arrival of Governor O ' Reilly in late 1769, however, Charity came under control of church authorities and the Spanish govern- ment, as was the custom of such hospitals in Madrid and other Spanish cities. In 1779, a great hurricane wreaked havoc upon New Orleans, reducing Charity Hos- pital to ruins. Only the kitchen and store- house escaped its fury. This destruction resulted in much consternation and suffer- ing, leaving homeless patients to perish upon the streets or in some obscure cor- ner. Nonetheless, the Hospital survived. During this terrible time, Don Andres Almonester y Roxas, a former war clerk, civil notary, and noble gentleman born in Andalusa, Spain, came to Louisiana and rescued the Hospital. He was a leading citi- zen of the colony and made a modest for- tune as an owner of retail stores adjacent to Jackson Barracks. He was described by some as a selfless benefactor and by oth- ers as an opportunistic land speculator. Almonester offered the huge amount of $114,000 to rebuild the hurricane-ravaged Hospital. It was completed in October 1785, and named the Charity Hospital of St. Charles (the San Carlos Hospital) in

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cognized that all four years of education needed to be consolidated on one campus. It was not, however, until October 1955 that a ten-story addition to the Hutchinson Memorial Building enabled the Second- Year departments to be moved downtown. In 1963, further additions to the downtown facility were built to house the First- Year departments, allowing the School to reunify its four classes in one building for the first time since the early 1900s. The Tulane Medical Center was organized in 1969 to broaden Tulane ' s commitment to medical education, research, and patient care. The Tulane Medical Center Hospital and Clinic, the first such university hospital in Louisiana, was dedicated in October of 1976. This 300-bed hospital has enabled Tulane to consolidate a wide range of ser- vices in a tertiary-care environment. In the short period since its opening, it has be- come a major referral center for the region. ■4 Tulane Medical Center Hospital and Clinic. Hutctiinson Memorial Building circa 1930. Since its founding 154 years ago as the Medical College of Louisiana, the Tulane University School of Medicine has under- gone many changes, and not simply in name. Several buildings have come and gone, and while many different students and faculty members have occupied these buildings, so have federal troops during the Civil War. Though Tulane originally ca- tered to those mainly from the South, it now attracts students from all parts of the United States. From its meager beginnings in 1834 with 11 students, the Tulane Uni- versity School of Medicine has gone on to confer over 12,000 medical degrees, 160 of which are to be conferred on the Class of 1988. Throughout the years Tulane has always strived to improve its medical edu- cation, and is now ranked among the top medical schools in the country, and perhaps the world. ..something of which we can all be proud. M Former Entrance to Hutctiinson Clinic History of the Scfiool of Medicine l- CWe

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Charity Hospital circa 1835. ularly Germany and Ireland, were treated at Charity, and by 1858 foreigners outnum- bered US natives by a ratio of six to one. To provide additional financial aid to Char- ity, taxes were placed on all concerts and Carnival Balls. In addition, all theatres in New Orleans were required to give four benefit performances annually. Although an official gambling act would not go into effect until 1923, a tax on gaming halls was instituted for the benefit of the hospital as early as 1815. Further amended in 1832, this law increased the number of gaming halls and raised the tax to S7,500, three- quarters of which was designated for Char- ity Hospital. However, it was the 1842 Passenger Tax paid by all persons arriving in New Orleans from foreign ports that ensured the hospital ' s financial stability during this period. Five years after the great fire, the square roughly corresponding to the location of the current Fairmont Hotel on Canal Street, was sold by the city to the Administrators of Charity to build a new hospital. Work was begun in 1815, and when completed in the same year, the new facilities were described as vast and commodious, capable of caring for 120 patients. honor of King Charles III of Spain. Almonester died in 1798, probably feeling that most of Charity ' s administrative prob- lems had been solved. Yet the problems only worsened later! In the early 1800s, the mayor of New Orleans pleaded before the Louisiana legis- lature to Look at the Charity Hospital and examine the state of abandonment and dep- rivation to which this institution is reduced. The poor man preyed upon by maladies seeks asylum and finds only a grave. Another catastrophic event occurrred Fri- day, September 23, 1809, when a kitchen fire quickly spread to the wooden shingled roof and burned the entire hospital to the ground. The indigent sick suffered intense hardship after this fire, and many were housed on the upper gallery of the Cabildo, which served as City Hall. Louisiana became a state on April 30, 1812, and assumed full responsibility for Charity Hospital on March 17, 1813. Immigrants from dozens of European countries, partic- An open word of the early 1800 ' s. M Mh i sz r ' ' S jL«W» History of Charity Hospital T-WavS=JSC