Montefiore Hospital (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

Montefiore Hospital opened in 1905 as the only hospital for Pittsburgh's Jewish population. It was built through the efforts of the Hebrew Ladies Aid Society and the Montefiore Hospital Aid Society. The Hospital was built in Pittsburgh's Hill District neighborhood on Centre Avenue before the Hospital moved to its present location on Fifth Avenue in the Oakland neighborhood.

Montefiore Hospital was founded in 1908 by the Hebrew Ladies Hospital Aid Society to serve the needs of Pittsburgh's Jewish community for health care and for a venue in which Jewish doctors could be trained. Throughout its history, Montefiore provided medical care on a nonsectarian basis. The hospital was purchased in 1990 by the University of Pittsburgh. The proceeds from the sale of the hospital were used to establish the Jewish Healthcare Foundation which helps to provide medical care to the underpriviliged in the general Pittsburgh community.

Montefiore Hospital was founded in 1905 by the Montefiore Hospital Association to improve on the charitable work of the Hebrew Ladies' Aid Society. The Hebrew Ladies Hospital Aid Society (LHAS) was instrumental in raising the funds for the opening of Montefiore Hospital. Their commitment came from the need to establish a Jewish hospital at a time when Jewish doctors were virtually shut out of practice in hospitals nationwide. During this time Jewish patients lacked an environment that met their spiritual needs and indigent and immigrant members of the community needed access to first-rate health care. Montefiore Hospital was originally located on Centre Avenue in Pittsburgh's Hill District; the hospital moved in 1929 to Fifth Avenue in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Oakland. In 1990, the Presbyterian-University Health System, Inc., the parent body of the Presbyterian-University Hospital of Pittsburgh, purchased Montefiore. Upon the creation of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Montefiore became a part of it with the new name Montefiore University Hospital.