Administrative History
Health care for the indigent was provided in Alameda County as early as 1853. The first county hospital was opened in 1864 in a rented house in Oakland. In 1869 a new County Infirmary was opened in San Leandro; this institution would serve as the county hospital for some sixty years. In 1917, 9½ acres in the Highland Park district of Oakland were purchased as a site for the new hospital. The building was financed under the general tax fund until 1924 when a $1,800,000 bond issue was authorized for its completion at a cost of over $3,000,000. The name Highland Hospital had been suggested by Dr. R. G. Broderick, the first Director of Hospitals, to remove the perceived stigma associated with county care of indigency. In 1934 the name was changed to the Alameda County Hospital, Oakland. On December 24, 1940, the institution was given the official name of The Highland Alameda County Hospital. Known today as Alameda County Medical Center -Highland General Hospital, the institution is a busy, county-owned, 250-bed, acute medical/surgical hospital with approximately 35 full-time attending physicians and a house staff of more than 85. There are approved residencies in Emergency Meidicne, Internal Medicine, Surgery and Oral Surgery, with residents from the Unviersity of California at San Francisco (UCSF) or the University of California at Davis (UCD) to provide full-time coverage in Orthopedics, Pediatrics and Ophthalmology. All these programs have an instututional "umbrella" affiliation with either UCSF or UCD. Having received Trauma Center designation in 1986, the Emergency Department is a major segment of Highland General Hospital, with an annual census of 72,000+ patients, exclusive of Pediatrics and Psychiatry (most pediatric emergencies are seen at nearby Children's Hospital in Oakland).
The Highland School of Nursing, offering a three-year diploma program and eligibility for licensure in registered nursing, was located in Highland Alameda County Hospital. It was founded in 1915, when its first class of six students matriculated at the Alameda County Infirmary in San Leandro. Academic affiliation in basic sciences was provided by Mills College in Oakland. In addition to the facilities available at the school of nursing, Mills College and the Highland General Hospital, affiliations at nearby institutions were provided in nursery school, community nursing and rehabilitation.
During World War II, enrollment in schools of nursing increased substantially following the passage of the Bolton Act, which established the Cadet Nurse Corps of the Public Health Service, a program which authorized the USPHS to provided qualified candidates with all-expense scholarships to nursing schools. Students who enrolled under the plan became members of the U.S. Cadet Nursing Corps and upon graduation were required to serve with either military or essential civilian nursing until the end of the war. The program was discontinued in 1946.
From the guide to the Highland Hospital Records, (University of California, San Francisco. Library. Archives and Special Collections.)
