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1835 |
John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital
of Cook County traces its origins to the Board of Commissioners who establish
the Poor House, providing free medical care to indigents. |
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1847 |
The Poor House is
unable to meet population needs. At Kinzie and State, the County rents Tippecanoe
Hall, becoming the Cook County Hospital. |
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1850 |
Tippecanoe Hall closes
in 1850. Its poor patients go to Illinois General Hospital of the Lake, a
public hospital founded by doctors and laymen. |
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1851 |
The Sisters of Mercy take
control of the Illinois General Hospital. |
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1852 |
The hospital
incorporates as Mercy Hospital and Orphan Asylum. The County sends its
indigents to this hospital and pays for their care. |
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1861 |
The Chicago Medical Society
reports that the Poor Farm provides inadequate care. The report recommends
the County procure the former city hospital from the U.S. Government and
utilize it as a medical facility for indigents. |
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1862 |
The U.S. Army
discharges its last patients from the hospital and returns it to the County.
Dr. George Amerman was elected to the Board of Commissioners and was
instrumental in the push for the establishment of a County hospital. Dr.
Amerman is considered the Father of Cook County Hospital. |
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1866 |
Cook County Hospital
opens in January when 12 patients arrive from the Poor Farm and from Mercy
Hospital. |
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1866-1871 |
The hospital serves
between 1,400 and 1,500 patients per year. |
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1872 |
The Hospital Committee recommends
that the County Board construct a new hospital on a more desirable location. |
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1874 |
The County Board
purchases the property at Harrison, Wood, Polk and Lincoln Streets, for
$145,000, the location of the current hospital. |
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1875 |
In March, the Board
votes to build a new hospital for $700,000. |
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1876 |
The new hospital opens,
consisting of two medical pavilions, laundry, morgue, kitchen, boiler house,
and a bed capacity of 300. |
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1884 |
CCH expands to two additional
pavilions, a clinical amphitheater, and an administration building. The
hospital’s bed capacity grows to 500-600. The year the hospital treats 5,934
patients. |
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1910 |
The hospital treats
34.000 patients. Overcrowding is a problem and the facility is old and needs
repairs. The County Board votes to build a new 656 bed hospital at a cost of
$3 million. |
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1916 |
The new facility opens
and is the current Main Building of CCH. Dr. Karl A. Meyer heads the hospital
from 1914-1967. Meyer sets the standard for excellent medical training
programs and medical advancements both during his tenure and continuing
today. |
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1917 |
The Main Building adds
two new pavilions, giving the hospital a total bed capacity of 2,000. |
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1925 |
The hospital treats
nearly 42,000 patients. A new building program begins at a cost of $2.5
million. |
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1928 |
CCH adds a children’s
hospital, men’s hospital, new morgue, and a receiving/admitting building. The
hospital’s bed capacity increases to 3,400. |
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1929 |
The Cook County School
of Nursing opens in the former Illinois Training School for Nurses, now the
site of Pasteur Park, offers a diploma program. |
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1935 |
The School of Nursing moves
to 1900 W. Polk. The school provides nursing services until 1971, when the
department transfers to the hospital. A diploma program in nursing education
is available until it closes in 1980. |
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1937 |
The world’s first blood
bank opens at Cook County Hospital. Blood bank founder, Dr. Bernard Fantus
opens a blood bank preservation laboratory. |
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1939 |
The County acquires the
West Side Hospital at Harrison and Wolcott Streets. |
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1940 |
The County reopens the West
Side Hospital at Fantus Out-Patient Clinic, named in memory of Dr. Bernard
Fantus. |
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1943-1945 |
Hektoen Institute opens
in the former John McCormick Institute for Infectious Diseases, on South Wood
Street. After razing the building in 1961, the current Hektoen Institute
opens in 1964, at the same location. Koch Bwn Center opens at Cook County
Hospital |
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1953 |
The Midwest’s first
cobalt-beam therapy unit opens for cancer patients at Cook County Hospital. It
was only one of three in the U.S. Karl A. Meyer Hall opens, providing
residence facilities for house staff physicians. |
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1955 |
A new central
diagnostic x-ray department opens with the world’s first radiographic rooms
especially designed for highly technical examinations of the chambers of the
heart, blood vessels, the brain for tumors, and sectional depth body studies.
The hospital receives its first
three-year accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations. |
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1961 |
Fantus Out-Patient
Clinic moves to Harrison and Winchester Streets and reopens as Fantus Health
Center in 1972. The current facility houses 99 clinics. |
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1961 |
First trauma unit in
the United States opens |
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1967 |
Robin Dean Heliport
opens, named after a former five-year-old female patient. |
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1973 |
A separate Emergency
Room opens. Dr. Boone Chunprapah becomes the first
doctor to successfully reconnect four completely severed fingers from a man’s
hand. CCH becomes the first hospital to use
an all frozen blood banking system. |
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1983 |
Ron Sable, MD, and
Renslow Sherer, MD, found Chicago’s first HIV/AIDS clinic. |
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1984 |
Fantus Health Center
opens the new Ambulatory Screening Clinic. |
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1991 |
The Adult Emergency
Room is renovated. It is one of the nation’s largest and busiest. Adult ER
treats over 110,000 patients annually; Pediatrics ER treats 45,000 children
and adolescents each year. |
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1993 |
The HIV/AIDS clinic was
re-named the Sable/Sherer Clinic. The clinic treated one-third of Cook
County’s HIV/AIDS patients. |
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1994 |
Cook County Hospital
establishes a medical school affiliation with Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s
Hospital. The Trauma Center receives a renovation.
CCH is home to the city’s busiest trauma center. Cook County receives a Certificate of
Need (CON) from Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board approving
construction of a new hospital. |
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1996
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Her Royal Highness Diana, Princess of Wales visits Cook County Hospital. |
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1998
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The Cook County Board
of Commissioners takes the final steps in the approval process, voting to
accept a contract to construct a new hospital. County government, elected
officials, health, and civic leaders hold groundbreaking ceremonies for the
new Cook County Hospital. The new hospital will be a 464-bed
state-of-the-art, comprehensive facility, scheduled for completion in 2002.
Additionally, construction begins on a new energy efficient central power
plant for the hospital campus. Cook County Hospital addresses its
chronic parking problems with the completion of a 1,340-car parking
structure, known as Phase I. Future plans include Phase II, that will add two
floors, creating 2,100 total parking spaces. |
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1999
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Cook County Hospital's Emergency Services is named among nation's busiest.
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2001
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Cook County Hospital Burn Center receives verification.
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2002 |
New, state-of-the art John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County opens. |
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2003 |
The new Stroger Hospital Eye Clinic opens as the most up-to-date eye center in the city of Chicago.
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