A staple of San Francisco’s Mission District had its centennial celebration this afternoon.
Doctors, nurses and executives gathered in the courtyard at St. Luke’s Hospital at 3555 Cesar Chavez St. to celebrate the 100 years it has helped lower-income families, both spiritually and medically.
The Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of California, said St. Luke’s Hospital’s founder, The Rev. Dr. Thomas Brotherton, brought healing to San Francisco.
“It was an integration of spirit and science,” Andrus said.
St. Luke’s was originally established in 1870 in Bernal Heights and moved to its location on Cesar Chavez and Valencia streets in 1902, when the chapel was built.
After the earthquake of 1906, the building was destroyed and it wasn’t until 1912 when the current building was opened.
Over the last 100 years, St. Luke’s has been refurbished twice, in 1952 and 2011. The hospital has also been home to a nursing school, which ran from 1888 to 1986.
In 2007, St. Luke’s became associated with the California Pacific Medical Center.
Dick Watts, the chair on the Board of Trustees for the medical center’s foundation said St. Luke’s provides a different type of service.
On top of its medical care, St. Luke’s “provides a service that is not reimbursed by any insurance, personal care,” Watts said.
Watts said that being at a hospital, even in the best of circumstances, isn’t always that great, but at St. Luke’s, the staff “makes your experience rewarding and satisfying.”
Mayor Ed Lee wasn’t able to be at the gathering, but Starr Terrell, director of health policy for the mayor, spoke on behalf of Lee who informed the hospital that Oct. 18, 2012, is “St. Luke’s Hospital Day” in San Francisco.
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