St. Joseph’s Hospital Celebrates Eight Decades of Service

October 01, 2014

TAMPA, Fla., (September 30, 2014)-  When St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa opened its 40-bed facility on October 1, 1934 it contained emergency rooms, two operating rooms, an obstetrical deliver room, laboratory, pharmacy and the most advanced x-ray department in the state. Since then, it’s grown to a 1,006 beds over several campuses and can treat some of the most complex medical, emergency and surgical conditions.

     For 80 years, St. Joseph’s Hospital has carried out the ministry of Catholic health care. The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany founded St. Joseph’s Hospital while the country was struggling in the depths of the Great Depression. Though operating a medical institution was economically challenging, the Sisters felt there was no time of greater need and the St. Joseph’s Hospital name is now synonymous with compassionate and advanced care.

     St. Joseph’s Hospital’s team members healed countless lives over the past eight decades by carrying on the Franciscan tradition of offering hope and compassion, meeting each individual’s medical, spiritual and emotional regardless of faith.

     Construction and renovation is a constant at St. Joseph’s Hospital, which now includes St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital-North and St. Joseph’s Hospital-South, opening in 2015. Other highlights include:

  • 1934 Original hospital opened at 7th Avenue and Morgan Street
  • 1967 New 400-bed hospital opens at current location on Martin Luther King Jr. Street
  • 1970 88-bed children’s penthouse opens
  • 1990 St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital re-opens at current location
  • 1993 St. Joseph’s Hospital acquires Women’s Hospital
  • 2010 St. Joseph’s Hospital-North opens
  • 2012 St. Joseph’s Behavioral Health Center opens
  • 2014 St. Joseph’s Hospital opens new Heart Institute
  • 2015 St. Joseph’s Hospital-South scheduled to open

     With highly skilled staff and physicians focusing on more than 70 different specialties including internal medicine, cardiology, neurology and surgery, St. Joseph’s Hospital earned a national and international reputation for care. St. Joseph’s Hospital also has the busiest emergency centers in the Tampa Bay area and St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital delivers more than 7,000 babies a year.

     St. Joseph’s Hospital features state-of-the-art advanced medical technology. Its Centers of Excellence include:

  • Advanced Center for Atrial Fibrillation
  • Advanced Center for Robotic Surgery
  • Cancer Institute
  • Heart Institute
  • Stroke and Neuroscience Program

     St. Joseph’s Hospital is part of BayCare, the largest nonprofit health system in the area, which has more than 280 access points across a four county region. It is made up of 11 hospitals, a long-term acute care facility, home health services, outpatient centers, 3,100 physicians and more than 22,000 team members.

     St. Joseph’s Hospital celebrates its 80th anniversary on Wednesday, October 1. 

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