Donna Billings, age 12, of Johnson City, Tenn., for her question:
WHEN WAS THE FIRST HOSPITAL BUILT?
We don't know exactly when the first hospital was built but we do know that as early as 200 B.C. Buddhists set up hospitals in India. Early in the Christian Era, hospitals were established for sick or weary travelers and for the poor, the blind and the crippled.
The word "hospital" comes from the Latin word "hospitalis," which means a "house or institution for guests."
Religious orders operated most of the early hospitals. For hundreds of years, hospitals served chiefly as institutions to care for persons who were too poor or too sick to be treated at home. Doctors did not work in the hospitals. They treated most patients in the patients' homes or in offices.
The oldest hospital still in existence is the Hotel Dieu in Paris, founded during the A. D. 600s.
The Spanish governor of Hispaniola built the first hospital in the Western Hemisphere in 1503. Its ruins still stand in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Also, the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez founded a hospital in Mexico City that has existed since 1524.
The first Canadian hospital opened in Quebec in 1639. An early hospital in what is now the United States was established in 1658 in New Amsterdam, now New York City. The first incorporated hospital in the United States was the Pennsylvania Hospital, established in Philadelphia with the assistance of Benjamin Franklin. The Pennsylvania Hospital, still in existence today, received its charter in 1751.
In the early 1700s, European cities and town began to build hospitals. These hospitals served mainly the poor or the victims of contagious diseases. They operated as charity hospitals. The wealthy did not go to hospitals. They usually received fare at home.
Unfortunately, most early hospitals were dirty, crowded and dark.
Medical discoveries in the 18008 helped begin the improvement of hospitals. In 1842 a Georgia physician named Crawford Long became the first doctor to use ether as an anesthetic and four years later, a Boston dentist named William Morton arranged the first hospital operation using ether as an anesthetic. This operation took place at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The use of X ray equipment in hospitals began in the late 1890s.
In 1873, three hospitals established the first American nursing schools. These were Massachusetts General Hospital, Bellevue Hospital 1n New York City and New Haven Hospital in Connecticut.
Also in the 18008 hospitals began to establish rooms for private patients. The idea of the charity hospital started to diminish. Patients began to pay for part of the cost of their hospitalizations.
Many new hospitals were built in the United States during the early 19008.