San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ST. JOSEPH’S HOME AND HOSPITAL
Among the institutions of San
Joaquin County devoted to the caring for suffering humanity, St. Joseph’s Home
and Hospital of Stockton stands pre-eminent.
It was founded by the late Rev. Father W. B. O’Connor, who had presided
over the parish of St. Mary’s for forty years, and originally built for a home
for old men. But as the years have come
and gone the institution has been enlarged until it embraces many kinds of
helpful agencies. The land upon which
the buildings stand was donated by Miss Julia Weber, daughter of Captain Weber,
the founder of Stockton, and work was begun; however, before the building was
completed, at the request of Dr. Gibbons and other physicians of Stockton, a
portion of the building was converted into a hospital. This was the first hospital in Stockton and
was opened on Christmas Eve of 1900 by the Sisters of St. Dominic. Those in charge of the opening were Sisters
Margaret, Imelda and Philomena; that last named was the first Sister Superior,
while Sister Margaret had charge of the sick.
When the hospital was opened there
were twenty-five beds, later a like number were added, then
as demands came for more room the old men were removed to a temporary building
in the rear while a brick structure was being built for them. Later a new addition was added for their use
and a new chapel erected. In 1902 the
original building was made into a hospital and was in charge of Sister M. Eulalia; the next year she founded the first nurses’
training school in Stockton and up to the present time there have been
ninety-eight nurses graduated from this school.
The school is now in charge of Miss Anna McDonald, who has been connected
with the hospital since 1902. Sister
Superior M. Eulalia, who is now in charge of the
institution is a native Californian, born in San Francisco of pioneer parents,
and has had charge of Catholic hospitals and been an instructor in schools and
convents in Nevada and in California for years and is a woman of much business
ability.
The lower floor of the first
hospital building is now used for a maternity ward; the upper floor is the home
of the nurses and there is also a nursery for children in the same
building. In the east wing is a dining
room for nurses. The hospital laundry
occupies a separate building and is equipped with every modern appliance used
in that industry.
In 1916 the new hospital building,
containing eighty-five beds, was erected on the north end of the property. This is among the finest and best equipped
hospitals of its size in the State. The
interior finish is white enamel and every modern convenience has been
considered. There are five operating
rooms; one being used exclusively for eye, ear, nose and throat operations. There is a complete X-ray laboratory in
charge of Sister Gregory; a room is set apart for preparing dressings and one
for sterilizing. There is a long
sun-porch on the east side of the building used for the patients in winter
months and in summer there is a beautiful lawn with ample shade for their
convenience. The number of beds,
including the maternity ward, now has reached 100. The hospital is presided over by six graduate
nurses and thirty student nurses. In
planning the entire structure with its various additions the Sisters of St.
Dominic have overlooked nothing that would add to the comfort of the patients
in their care, nor to the convenience of the physicians caring for their
charges. It is hard to estimate the
great good accomplished by an institution of this kind, but that its
far-reaching and satisfying results will maintain with coming generations the
prestige it now has is assured, for the Sisters have builded for all time and
fully realize that the “good we do lives after us.”
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1403-1404. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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