[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 51 (Wednesday, May 3, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E708]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CELEBRATING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF ST. BERNADINE MEDICAL CENTER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JERRY LEWIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 3, 2006

  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I would like today to 
congratulate the medical staff and administration of the St. Bernadine 
Medical Center for providing 75 years of top quality medical care to 
the residents of San Bernardino County, California.
  When local doctors and community leaders laid plans for a new 
hospital in 1929, they intended it to be modeled after St. Mary's 
Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, home of the Mayo Clinic. Led by Dr. 
Philip Savage and Father Patrick Dunn of St. Bernadine Catholic Church, 
they approached the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in 
Houston, and the Sisters agreed to support a new hospital, providing a 
$550,000 investment to get it started. A local fund drive brought 
another $100,000, and St. Bernadine Hospital was created.
  During the early years of operation in the midst of the Depression, 
the Sisters often would take payment for medical services in the form 
of fruits, nuts and chickens. The original 125 beds, five surgical 
rooms, operating theatre and other support facilities served the 
community until the 1950s, when a series of expansions began.
  In the past 50 years, the medical center has grown to a 463-bed 
acute-care facility providing the nearly 2 million residents of San 
Bernardino County with some of the most advanced technologies and 
practices in the nation. The 1,400 employees serve thousands of 
patients a year, including 43,000 in the Emergency Department alone. 
The Five-Star maternal-child health center handles 2,600 births a year.
  Most recently, the medical center has established the Inland Empire 
Heart Institute, which is ranked as one of the top two hospitals in 
Southern California for heart surgery volume. Blue Shield has 
designated it a Center of Excellence. The Medical Center is also rated 
as the best in the region for orthopedic care.
  Although it is still sponsored by the Sisters of Charity, the medical 
center is now part of Catholic Healthcare West. From Mother Sebastian, 
the hospital's first administrator in 1931, to current president Steven 
Barron and board chairman Wilfrid Lemann, the leadership of St. 
Bernadine Medical Center has showed devotion to providing the very best 
health care for our community.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join in congratulating 
St. Bernadine Medical Center on their 75-year legacy of top-quality 
medical care, and wish the medical staff and administration further 
success in the years to come.

                          ____________________