                            |
 HistorySince its incorporation in 1848 as Pittsburgh's first chartered public hospital, The Western Pennsylvania Hospital has had a rich history of leadership and innovation in medicine -- expanding its services and enhancing its technological capabilities to provide high-quality care to patients, educate health-care professionals and conduct research. In 1912, the expanding needs of patients and staff led the hospital to relocate from its first site near downtown to its present location on Friendship Avenue in Bloomfield. For more than 150 years, The Western Pennsylvania Hospital has taken care of the people of Pittsburgh, through floods and flu epidemics, through wars and depression, and through this century's industrial prosperity and spirit of renaissance. Through floods and flu epidemics, through wars and depressions, and through this century's industrial prosperity and spirit of renaissance, West Penn Hospital has provided care to the people of Pittsburgh and the tri-state area. During the mid 1840s Pittsburgh was a bustling community of 40,000 serving as a portal to the west. In 1844 Dorothea Dix, a well-known philanthropist and crusader, wrote a scathing report to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the city's shocking state of health conditions and complete lack of institutional facilities. The outraged citizens held public meetings and three years later decreed that a non-sectarian hospital would be built to serve the physically and mentally afflicted in the western part of the state. They agreed on the name The Western Pennsylvania Hospital and construction began the following year. Over the years West Penn Hospital has changed to meet the needs of the city and its people. Through its history the Hospital has had a rich history of leadership in medicine. The Western Pennsylvania Hospital was one of the nation's pioneer hospitals, and among the first 50 hospitals in the United States. The Hospital was the first in the area to serve the nation and the district in the civil war as a veterans' hospital (1863) and sent military hospital units of physicians and nurses to the battle fronts of World Wars I and II. It was the first in the area to sponsor a medical college (1883); first in Pittsburgh to open an intensive care unit (1959); first to perform a bone marrow transplant (1967); first hospital in Pittsburgh to build a heliport (1971); first to open a center dedicated exclusively to breast diagnostic imaging (1985); first hospital in Pittsburgh totally dedicated to patient-focused care (1995) and the first in the region and among the first in the nation to use the Peacock System to treat brain tumors (1997). West Penn Hospital has become known for its state-of-the-art treatment programs for burns, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes; its imaging programs; and health care services for women, infants, and children. West Penn Hospital, also has specialized centers for foot and ankle surgery, geriatric care, pain management, and sleep disorders. In addition, the hospital has a breast diagnostic imaging center, an infant apnea center and an outpatient rehabilitation center. Building on its 150 year history as a regional and national leader in health care, The Western Pennsylvania Hospital is proud of its past achievements and is focused on continuing to provide the highest quality of health care and service into the next millennium. Click here to see our Chronology of Firsts. |