Seton Medical Center

Seton Medical Center
Daughters of Charity Health System
Shown in California
Geography
Location 1900 Sullivan Ave., Daly City, California, United States
Coordinates 37°40′48″N 122°28′29″W / 37.6799°N 122.4746°WCoordinates: 37°40′48″N 122°28′29″W / 37.6799°N 122.4746°W
Organization
Patron Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
Services
Beds 357
History
Founded 1893
Links
Website www.setonmedicalcenter.org
Lists Hospitals in California

Seton Medical Center (originally Mary's Help Hospital) is a 357-bed Daughters of Charity Health System Catholic hospital, originally founded in San Francisco with the current complex being located in Daly City, California, United States.[1] It is the largest employer in Daly City.[2] In October 2014, Daughters of Charity announced they would be shedding the hospital for financial reasons. Sale of the hospital to Prime Healthcare Services was approved.[3] The sale was rejected by Prime Healthcare on March 10, 2014.[4]

History

San Francisco period

In 1889 Kate Johnson, a wealthy San Francisco widow made donations to acquire land and build a "sunshine hospital" for women and children under the condition it be operated by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.[1] It was built in San Francisco on Guerrero Street.[1] Johnson was impressed with their work with "orphans, beggars, prisoners, the sick, refugees, and the mentally ill" during her European travels.[1] The medical center was founded as Mary's Help Hospital in 1893 by the Daughters of Charity of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and a new building was completed but destroyed shortly thereafter by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.[1] In 1912 Mary’s Help Hospital officially opened as did its nursing school program.[1] In 1913 this made it the largest private hospital in Northern California.[1] The medical center offered free and partial payment services in addition to free food.[1]

Daly City period

By the 1950s the hospital was becoming overwhelmed with over 30,000 patients annually, and an earthquake in 1957 that damaged the building led to a decision to build a new hospital.[1] In 1965 a new hospital was built in Daly City as San Francisco was found to have a surplus while northern San Mateo County was in need of a medical center and emergency room services.[1] The site was a hillside near Interstate 280 that was until that point a heather and field crops farm.[5] It was designed like all previous incarnations to be a "sunshine hospital" meaning that every room had a windowed view into the exterior world where natural sunlight could make it to them.[1] In 1983 it was renamed in honor of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the American founder of the Sisters of Charity.[1] From 1995 to 2002 the hospital was managed by Catholic Healthcare West,[1] a change opposed by nurses' unions.[6] In 2011, Seton Medical Center was ranked fifth of forty-four Bay Area hospitals by U.S. News and World Report.[7] In 2012 the hospital was fined $100,000 for causing the death of an elderly woman in a vegetative state when it inserted a breathing tube with the cap still on, leaving her unable to exhale.[8] In 2012, Daly City mayor Sal Torres lauded the hospital for its 100th anniversary.[9] The hospital is credited in part with attracting the initial influx of Filipino immigrants to Daly City, which has the highest largest concentration of Filipinos in the U.S.[2][10]

Facilities

SamTrans operates the Seton Shuttle, connecting the hospital with Daly City BART station. The service operates from just before 6 AM and 9 AM in the morning commute and an afternoon commute that ranges from around noon until nearly 7 PM.[11]

Seton also operates Seton Coastside, a clinic in the rural beachtown of Moss Beach.[12]

The facility is Daly City's largest employer,[13] and is one of four hospitals with emergency services in the county, the others being San Mateo Medical Center and Sequoia Hospital. The fourth and largest is Mills Peninsula Medical Center, a part of the Sutter system, in Burlingame. [14]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 Our History, Seton Medical Center website, access date 18-02-2012
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Vergara, Benito Manalo (2008). Pinoy Capital: The Filipino Nation in Daly City. Temple University Press. pp. 30, 34.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ Then and Now
  6. ↑ Catholic Healthcare's Kingdom: CHW unites 4 local affiliate hospitals for West Bay region, Carl T. Hall, San Francisco Chronicle, 26-07-1996, access date 27-02-2012
  7. ↑ They Rank Bay Area Hospitals, Don’t They? U.S.News & World Report. sfcitizen.com. March 31, 2011. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  8. ↑ Daly City hospital fined $100K for patient death, San Francisco Chronicle, Will Kane, 03-02-2012, access date 18-02-2012
  9. ↑ Mayor's Corner, 21-02-2012, access date 13-03-2012
  10. ↑ Terrezas, Alexis (2011-03-19). "After 100 years, Daly City reflects on history of diversity". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  11. ↑ Seton Shuttle page, access date 18-02-2012
  12. ↑ Seton Coastside, Seton Coastside website, access date 18-02-2012
  13. ↑ Daly City, Bunny Gillespie, Dave Crimmen, 2011
  14. ↑ Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to And Living in the San Francisco Bay Area

External links