| History of Bellevue Hospital |
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"Whereas the necessity, number and continual increase
of the Poor within this City is very great…it is unanimously
resolved that there be forthwith built…the Public Workhouse
and House of Correction."
"We report it is our opinion that the upper room of the
West End of the said House be suitably furnished for an Infirmary
and for no other use whatsoever."
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Minutes of the Common Council, December 1734
and March 1736.
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| Bellevue Hospital was founded in 1736 in the Alms House that
stood at the site of the current City Hall in lower Manhattan.
It began as a six-bed infirmary catering to the destitute. In
1794, the Belle Vue farm on Manhattan's East Side was leased
to quarantine victims of yellow fever. In 1811, the Kips Bay
farm, just north of Belle Vue, was purchased for a larger almshouse.
McKim, Mead & White designed the hospital buildings that stand
today at First Avenue and 27th Street between 1908 and 1939. |
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| In 1847, the medical faculty of New York University began
clinical instruction at Bellevue. Columbia College of Physicians
and Surgeons joined the affiliation in 1860, followed by Cornell
Medical College in 1898. NYU assumed full clinical responsibility
in 1968. |
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| The Bellevue Hospital Medical College was established in 1861.
In 1869 Bellevue developed the first ambulance
service linked to a hospital. The New York Training School for
Nurses, based on Florence Nightingale´s philosphy, was founded
in 1873 at Bellevue. The first American nursing school for men
opened in 1888. |
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| Many medical departments were pioneered at Bellevue. The first
maternity ward was established in 1799. In 1874, Bellevue opened
the country's first children's clinic, followed by the first
emergency pavilion in 1876. In 1878, Bellevue established a
dedicated pavilion for the insane. During the 1880s, a training
program for surgeons was developed that is still in use today.
In 1892 Bellevue established a pavilion for alcoholics. The
Bellevue Chest Service, founded in 1903 to treat tuberculosis,
was instrumental in controlling the outbreak of the 1990s. The
first cardiology clinic in the nation opened in 1911. Public
School 106, the first public school for emotionally disturbed
children located in a public hospital, opened at Bellevue in
1935 and continues to this day. |
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| The Carnegie Laboratory, set up at Bellevue in 1884 was the
first laboratory dedicated to pathology and bacteriology. The
work done in this lab had a major impact on public health, helping
to prevent cholera outbreaks, and introducing the diphtheria
antitoxin in New York City. (In 1866 Bellevue physicians helped
develop a sanitary code for New York City, the first such standard
in the world.) |
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Bellevue medical units served overseas in both World War
I and World War II. After the second World War, Bellevue opened
the first non-military rehabilitation service.
In 1964 Bellevue became the designated hospital for visiting
presidents to New York City as well as United Nations diplomats,
New York City Police and Fire Department personnel.
In 1970 Bellevue joined the New York City Health and Hospitals
Corporation. In 1973 Bellevue moved its clinical services
to the New Bellevue building.
The original Old Bellevue building sits in front of the new
building and houses administrative and teaching departments.
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| In 2001, the Bellevue Literary Review was founded. |
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| Today's
Bellevue Hospital |
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