History
The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia opened St. Elizabeth Hospital on August 24, 1897, as requested by Archbishop William H. Gross. The hospital was first operated by just three sisters and was located at the corner of Second and Church streets in the former St. Francis Academy, which had also been operated by the sisters. One group to which St. Elizabeth Hospital provided care was the local gold miners. A kind of health insurance was offered to the miners who paid one dollar a month to the hospital. In return, each miner received complete health care services, which made St. Elizabeth Hospital one of the earliest health maintenance organizations in the country.
In 1912, construction began for a new 115-bed facility that was completed in 1915. During the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, many influenza patients were treated at the hospital, and sisters also went to people's homes to care for them.
Read more about this topic: St. Elizabeth Health Services
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