New England Hospital for Women and Children (Boston, Mass.)

The New England Hospital for Women and Children was founded by Marie Zakrzewska on July 1, 1862, in Boston, Massachusetts. The hospital's goal was to provide patients with qualified female physicians, to educate women in the study of medicine, and to professionally train nurses. Zakrzewska, a Polish-American physician, served as resident physician (1862–1863), attending physician (1863–1887), and advisory physician (1887–1899) of the hospital. In 1872, fellow physician Susan Dimock first organized the nursing training program. At its founding, it was the only hospital in New England that combined medical, obstetrical, pediatric, and surgical services in a single institution, as well as the first hospital in the country to have a school for nurses. The New England Hospital for Women and Children graduated America's first professionally trained nurse, Linda Richards (1873), and first Black professionally trained nurse, Mary Eliza Mahoney (1879).

By 1950, the hospital was beset with financial difficulties, leading to a report by the Board of Directors urging the abandonment of a hospital operated by women and the inclusion of men on the active staff. Lack of funds also led to the closing of the School of Nursing. In 1951, the hospital's name changed to the New England Hospital to include its intake of male patients. The hospital was renamed to the Dimock Community Health Center in 1969. As of 2026, the Dimock Center provides a range of healthcare services including adult and pediatric primary care, behavioral health and addiction services, early education, family support, and HIV/AIDS specialty care.