St. Agnes Hospital

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St. Agnes Hospital
Opened 1898
Current Status Active
Building Style Single Building
Location Baltimore, MD
Alternate Names
  • Baltimore Infirmary
  • Saint Agnes Sanitarium



History[edit]

Originally founded in 1823 under the name Baltimore Infirmary by the Daughters of Charity to provide nursing care for the poor. In 1876 the facility moved to its present location. At the suggestion of Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, Saint Agnes Hospital in 1898 became a sanitarium for patients suffering from mental illness and drug addiction. The treatments offered by Saint Agnes for these illnesses were innovative, and cutting edge in their day – including hydrotherapy, massage, organic and vegetarian menus, and exercise programs created to inspire individual healing.

The Saint Agnes Sanitarium was reorganized in 1906 as a General Hospital with the arrival of Joseph Colt Bloodgood, MD, as Chief of the Medical Staff, a position he occupied until his death in 1935. A pioneering physician, surgeon, and medical researcher, Dr. Bloodgood established the Intern Education Program – the second oldest surgical residency in the United States, predated only by the Halstead Program at the Johns Hopkins Hospital where he was trained. Over the next 30 years, Dr. Bloodgood led Saint Agnes into a new era of clinical expertise as he made great advances in diagnosing and treating cancer and other illnesses.

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