“All nations and all times have revered charity as the highest virtue. Our feeling of fellowship for all mankind incites us to help the weak, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked; but it is reverence for a human life that teaches us to nurse the sick with the tenderest care.”
Jonas Weil, founder and first president of Lebanon Hospital.
Every great act of charity has always started in the heart of one individual – someone so moved by the plight of his fellow men that his conscience and compassion compelled him to take action. From such selfless gestures, often unseen by the public, noble institutions have been born and great change has been wrought in the lives of thousands of men, women, and children.
The proud history of Bronx-Lebanon began in such a fashion.
The last two decades of the 19th century saw a massive immigration of European Jews to New York. While America held untold opportunities, the new arrivals also faced unsanitary living conditions and inadequate health care. An observer from that time reported that, “All our hospitals are crowded to their greatest capacity; and it is a most lamentable fact that convalescing patients are often discharged to make room for others who are more ill than they.”
During this time of great difficulty and suffering, Jonas Weil, a prominent citizen of the Bronx, sought to help a friend stricken by a serious ailment. Following is a recounting of the events:
“(Jonas Weil) experienced the greatest difficulty in having a poor and very sick patient admitted to a hospital…After having the matter so forcibly presented to him, he decided to set on foot a movement that should have for its object the establishment of an institution that should in a measure…enable the sick poor to receive better care. With this noble object in view, he organized the Lebanon Hospital Association; and showed his sincerity in the move by heading the subscription list with a most generous gift.”
With a donation in the amount of $10,175, Mr. Weil laid the cornerstone for “the greatest and most noble charity: the free hospital.” Friends and concerned citizens quickly followed his munificent gesture, and through their generosity, the old Ursuline Convent buildings and grounds at the corner of Westchester and Caldwell Avenues were purchased in 1890. And with that, Lebanon Hospital was born.
The new hospital, as Mr. Weil envisioned, would be a philanthropic institution dedicated to alleviating the suffering of the poor – regardless of their ability to pay. The hundreds and thousands who flocked to Lebanon for care quickly proved that a hospital of this nature was desperately needed in the Bronx. The annual report of 1898 vividly depicted this: “(We) treated in our dispensary over 10,000 patients free of charge since last year; and for the past few months, our daily average of hospital patients has been over sixty.”
Even though Lebanon Hospital was created to care for the poorest of the poor, the founders decided that every patient who walked through the doors would receive the best health care available. The first doctors, Parker Syms, Ralph Waldo, and Philip A. Zemansk, were considered to be some of the finest physicians in New York, and “the low death-rate of our hospital bears ample testimony to the quality of their efforts on behalf of our institution.”
Even though Lebanon Hospital was providing medical care to residents of the South Bronx, it could not keep up with the needs of a quickly growing population. In 1911, Dr. Alexander Goldman, a noted philanthropist and humanitarian, along with a group of doctors and concerned citizens, decided to donate their time and money to “establish and maintain against great odds an institution so urgently need by the people.”
Through the generosity and selfless service of these individuals the Bronx Hospital was founded in 1911.
Humble in origin, the Bronx Hospital and dispensary was a small frame remodeled house located on 1385 Fulton Avenue. Yet the services it provided were invaluable: as soon as the Bronx Hospital was open, the sick sought comfort within its walls. The medical staff was equal to the task, and provided such extensive care that the hospital always ran a monthly deficit, which “was cheerfully and promptly met by the founders and friends.”
By 1918, only seven years after its founding, the little house that served as Bronx Hospital was caring for over 30,000 patients a year. To meet the growing demands of the population, the Eichler estate at 169th street and Fulton Avenue was purchased. A major reconstruction and expansion program was launched, and the mansion quickly was transformed into a 110-bed hospital.
In just seven years, the converted Eichler estate could no longer meet the medical needs of the residents of the Bronx. The board of Bronx Hospital responded by launching an ambitious fund-raiser in which $517,000 was collected for the construction of a larger facility. On March 2nd, 1928 the foundation for the new hospital was laid, and by Nov 6th of the same year, dedication ceremonies for the cornerstone was held.
Dedicated to “service of all mankind regardless of race, creed, color, poverty, or wealth,” the new Bronx Hospital was a 9-story granite and terracotta structure boasting 310 beds and 160 surgeons, “among them being some of the most distinguished professional men in New York.” The new hospital also had a number of technological innovations of the day, including: “microphones” installed at every bedside so that patients could listen to religious services; a cardiograph, a device which allowed a doctor to monitor patients hearts remotely from the cardiograph room; and an X-ray department, which featured “an almost magical device...permitting the surgeon’s eye to follow the exact course of instrumental penetration, which heretofore has been done blindly.”
While the hospital featured the latest technology of the day, the board never lost sight of its most important mission: providing compassionate care to the poor in a dignified setting. The new Bronx Hospital boasted a solarium, an entire floor reserved for the care of sick children, a maternity unit capable of caring for 150 mothers and infants, five operating rooms, and perhaps most important, numerous beds reserved for individuals who were unable to afford medical care.
The Bronx Hospital also sought to establish itself as a research center, and built “extensive laboratory facilities for the general advancement of medicine and surgery….in order to give untold relief to human sufferers.” Simultaneously, the hospital took its first steps toward becoming a major teaching institution by training nurses in the latest advances of the day. All told, more than 300 medical professionals were required for the operation of what was becoming one of the largest hospitals in New York.
World War II held new opportunities and challenges for Lebanon Hospital. A new hospital had been built in 1943, a 12-story building white brick and marble trim on the Grand Concourse and Mt. Eden parkway - a nearly miraculous accomplishment considering that there was virtually no new construction during the war.
Despite this great achievement, the board of directors were faced with the extraordinarily difficult task of turning an empty, unequipped and unstaffed building into a functioning institution during a time of great shortages. Like so many other times in the hospital’s history, the men and women who believed in Lebanon’s mission were up to the task, and “to the everlasting credit of all concerned it can be recorded that the task was performed despite all obstacles and on May 16, 1946, the hospital opened with 54 beds in readiness for patients.”
The new Lebanon Hospital featured the latest equipment and facilities for the care of the sick: general medical and surgical wards, five operating rooms, a pediatric division, a dental clinic, and special wards for the study of rheumatic cardiac cases and disabled children. In the noble tradition of its predecessors, 10 of the 12 floors in the hospital were reserved for those unable to afford medical care. In fact, over 70% of all visits to the dispensary were free of charge, and the hospital achieved the highest percentage of occupancy of all general voluntary hospitals in greater New York.
Lebanon Hospital also featured a ‘maternity rooming-in-unit,’ for the care of newborn infants and their mothers. Among the numerous accolades the maternity unit received, the Department of Health commended the department for its “progressive attitude and its leadership…(as) few other cities have already instituted such maternity units.”
By December 1946, Lebanon’s capacity increased to 138 beds, followed by a further expansion in April 1947 to 205 beds. Despite the challenges inherent in treating an inner city community, the level of care provided at the hospital continued to be unparalleled, wining the following words of praise from American Medical Association:
“Excellent planned departments under very competent supervision…excellent program of conferences and seminars being carried out…good staff coverage…good program lectures, clinics and conferences.”
Lebanon also began to establish itself as an important teaching institution, affiliating itself with Columbia University. Dr. John Truslow, Assistant Dean, College of Physicians and Surgeons commented, “There is no question about the vigor and concern of the staff at Lebanon in their efforts to make it a good teaching hospital not only for interns and residents but for their own staff as well. The plan of the building, the activity of the Pathology laboratory and radiology service, and the excellence of the library with the care of records were impressive evidence of this.”
In short, Lebanon Hospital had become a model institution for the training of medical professionals and the care of the poor.
By the end of the 1950’s, it became apparent to the boards of the Bronx Hospital and Lebanon Hospital that a merger between these two storied institutions would provide better medical care for the people of the Bronx. In 1962, the hospitals decided to share staff, equipment, and facilities, and the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center was created.
In 1971, just nine short years later, the hospital took a significant step forward in its long history of medical education by becoming the primary teaching hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Over the years, the relationship has grown, and today, Bronx-Lebanon is a major teaching institution, offering 11 fully accredited residency programs in dentistry, pathology, pediatrics, surgery, medicine, ophthalmology, psychiatry, family practice, radiology, and OB/GYN.
The decade of the 1970’s was a difficult time for inner city communities across the United States, and especially the South Bronx. Charlotte Street, a blighted block in the South Bronx, became a symbol of urban decay, and attracted the visits of Pop John Paul II, and presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Although drugs and poverty took their toll on South Bronx, the hospital remained a stalwart pillar.
Yet the needs of the community placed so great strain on the hospital’s resources that Bronx-Lebanon had stopped to care for itself, and found its plant and facilities becoming antiquated. Dramatic action was required if the hospital was to hold true to its mission of providing quality medical care to all in need.
In the spirit of its founders, the board of Bronx-Lebanon was ready to meet this most difficult challenge.
New Directions and New Beginnings
On June 1st 1981, Bronx-Lebanon embarked on a journey that was to change the history of the hospital: “New Directions.”
A $181 million modernization project, the goal of New Directions was to completely upgrade the hospital facilities. Seven years later, the work was finished, and a new hospital was born.
As a result of New Directions, the Bronx-Lebanon Health Care System now consists of two major hospital divisions: the Concourse, a 435 bed 17 story tower for medical, specialty, outpatient and emergency services; and the Fulton Division, a 139-bed pavilion with a concentration on psychiatric and substance abuse programs, as well as a 240-bed skilled nursing facility specializing in long-term care for AIDS and geriatrics patients (the first of its kind in the Bronx).
New Directions also completely upgraded existing facilities, including the expansion of emergency rooms, surgical suites, intensive care units, and an increased array of inpatient and outpatient community mental health services, allowing Bronx-Lebanon to provide the finest medical care available – a singular feat considering the many challenges inherent in caring for an impoverished population.
But the goal of New Directions was far more ambitious than the construction of a new hospital: its mission was to save a neighborhood. Envisioned as a seed that would grow to attract private development of housing and commercial space, New Directions would “help nurse the South Bronx back to health, and a rehabilitated South Bronx would, over the long term, return the favor.”
Among the many seeds New Directions planted, the first was improving the local economy. The new hospital would serve as an economic anchor, providing over 4,000 jobs to area residents. In a community where unemployment rates reached 60%, the hospital became the largest employer in the South Bronx, and a lifeline of hope and financial mobility.
Second, the hospital would help spur community renewal by lending its support to a number of housing and community development projects; this initiative was also successful. Today, two thirds of the hospital’s employees live within two and a half miles of the work, a development that has greatly helped to revitalize the neighborhood.
Bronx-Lebanon has always sought to be more than a hospital, responding the needs of our community, whatever they might be.
When our neighbors were hungry, Bronx-Lebanon distributed more than five million pounds of U.S. Government surplus and other food commodities to the needy, making it the only hospital in the country involved in such a large-scale food distribution program.
When youngsters needed a guiding hand in their studies, we established the Academy of Health, a pioneering program with Taft High School that prepared high school students for careers as doctors, nurses, technicians, and other health professionals.
When the medical community recognized the importance of preventative medicine, we responded by reaching out beyond the hospital walls by offering dozens of innovative programs to educate the community about the value of primary care, along with free check-ups and screenings at schools, shelters, and nursing homes. These important initiatives have allowed us to treat minor illnesses before they have become major diseases, have improved the health of area residents, and reduced health care costs.
While all of these programs are important and noteworthy, perhaps our most ambitious initiative has been “BronxCare” – an extensive network of over 30 ambulatory clinics that bring primary care directly into medically under served neighborhoods. From satellite clinics in schools, senior centers, housing projects, and homeless shelters to comprehensive primary care and sub-specialty services, ‘BronxCare’ is delivering health care when and where it is needed, and has allowed us to continue in our role as “doctor to the community.”
It would be impossible to retell the countless acts of selfless service and dedication that generations of hospital employees have demonstrated over the last century. Still, the events that make up Bronx-Lebanon's proud past can be weaved together to reveal a profound and simple message -- that of a hospital founded on an unwavering commitment to go beyond its four walls to do what ever was needed to help the community.
One hundred years ago, Jonas Weil had a dream: to lend aid to an impoverished neighborhood so that those who were sick would be able to receive quality medical care, regardless of their ability to pay. To those who have stood by our side over the many decades, we are most pleased to be able to say that our founder’s dream is alive and well at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center.