Lenox Hill Hospital - Contributions To Modern Medicine

Contributions To Modern Medicine

The hospital became a leading innovator in medical care, developing and implementing many standards and practices that would later become indispensable components of modern medicine. In 1897, the hospital installed one of the first X-ray machines in America. Ten years later, the hospital established the first physical therapy department in the country. In response to what was becoming a growing public health threat, Lenox Hill Hospital was the first general hospital in the United States to open a tuberculosis division. In 1973, the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma becomes the first hospital-based center in the nation for the study of sports medicine.

Early on, Lenox Hill Hospital established itself as one of the nation’s leading hospitals for cardiac care. In 1938, the first angiocardiograph in the country was performed at Lenox Hill Hospital, and in 1955 the hospital became one of the first in New York City to open a cardiac catheterization laboratory. Ten years later, the hospital opened the first cardiac care unit in the metropolitan New York area. In 1978 the first coronary angioplasties in the country were performed at Lenox Hill Hospital and at St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco. In 1994, Lenox Hill Hospital surgeons pioneered minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass surgery and in 2000, Lenox Hill Hospital was the first in the United States to perform endoscopic radial artery harvesting. In 2003, the first drug coated stent approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was implanted at Lenox Hill Hospital. Lenox Hill is also one of the first hospitals in the nation to acquire a state-of-the-art robotic cardiac system, which allows surgeons to perform minimally invasive heart bypass surgery.

In 2000, Lenox Hill Hospital became the sponsor of Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, an internationally renowned specialty hospital.

Continuing its tradition of care during times of crisis, Lenox Hill Hospital assembled a disaster team to care for casualties of the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center in 2001. Emergency crews were sent to Ground Zero and supply runs to the area were conducted to aid the rescue workers. The hospital set up a free walk-in Crisis Counseling Center, staffed by the hospital’s psychiatrists and therapists and the blood donor center was expanded to accommodate the thousands of people who came to the hospital to give blood.

In 2007, Lenox Hill Hospital celebrated its 150th anniversary, and expanded its dedication to the New York City community by opening a brand-new, state-of-the-art Emergency Department, the Anne and Isidore Falk Center for Emergency Care at Lenox Hill Hospital.