St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

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St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney is located in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. It was originally established in 1857 by five Irish Sisters of Charity, who had migrated to Sydney in 1838 with a mission to help the poor and disadvantaged. Some of their early work included helping victims of the 1844 influenza outbreak, and prisoners and their families of the nearby Darlinghurst Gaol. Three of the Hospital's founding Sisters had trained as professional nurses in France, and they brought their knowledge to the colony, establishing a hospital that was free to all people, but especially for the poor. The original site for the hospital was in the neighbouring suburb of Potts Point. As demand grew, the establishment was moved to its present location in Darlinghurst in 1870. St Vincents Hospital is today, a leading medical, surgical and research facility. It has been at the forefront of innovation in areas such as heart, lung and bone marrow transplantation. The hospital was also one of the first health care facilities in Australia to start treating AIDS patients, a direct result of its close geographic position to the predominantly gay areas surrounding nearby Oxford Street, Sydney. As the AIDS epidemic grew in Sydney, the hospital led the way in the compassionate treatment of the sick and the dying, continuing to apply the original values of the Sisters' Mission. This early exposure to the frightening implications of a possible epidemic, was responsible for St Vincents becoming one of the leading centres of immunology research and practice in Australia. The immunology ward of the hospital was also strongly supported by the local gay community, who staged numerous charity events to raise money for AIDS care. In 1996, St Vincents joined the Sisters of Charity Health Service, which already encompassed 17 other health care facilities, and which is now, Australia's largest not-for-profit health provider. The hospital is a principal teaching centre and has close affiliations with a number of universities, including the University of NSW, the University of Technology, Sydney and the Australian Catholic University. The current executive Director of the private sector of the hospital is Steven Rubic.