Jewish Memorial Hospital and Rehabilitation Center (Roxbury, Mass.)

In 1913, the Roxbury Ladies' Bikur Cholim Association began collecting donations to provide a haven for the chronically ill. These charitable ladies recognized that the new Jewish immigrants, crowded into Boston's West End and North End neighborhoods, lacked basic medical care. Many of these Jewish newcomers found upon their arrival that few Jewish doctors practiced in the Boston area. Furthermore, communication between doctor and patient was difficult since many Jews spoke no English, and very few doctors spoke Yiddish. Moreover, many local doctors did not understand the particular social problems, religious traditions, and behavior patterns of the new immigrants. Finally, many Orthodox Jews refused to stay in hospitals where they could not eat kosher food and observe the Sabbath. Hence, the ladies of the Bikur Cholim, many of them immigrants, began a grassroots movement to build a medical institution for Jews who were suffering from illness and disease and who had no place to go.

Charted as an official organization in 1915, the Roxbury Ladies' Bikur Cholim Association carried on the Jewish tradition of benevolence by visiting the sick, poor, and elderly. They provided medicine, money, prayer, and support to those who lacked medical care. The ladies met regularly at the YMCA on the corner of Seaver Street and Humboldt Avenue, across from Franklin Park. Here they developed their plans for a medical institution to serve the needs of the Jewish community. On April 16, 1928, the Association voted to establish and maintain a home for incurables. Later that same year, in October, the Association realized its goal of a Jewish hospital by purchasing the former Beth Israel Hospital at 59 Townsend Street for $25,000, with a $10,000 down payment and a $15,000 mortgage. Payments were to be $900 per year at a 6% interest rate. Also in 1928, the Association joined the Federated Jewish Charities.

In 1929 the Greater Boston Bikur Cholim Hospital, with 42 beds, was officially dedicated. A medical staff consisting of volunteer physicians was organized, and a hospital-based auxiliary was formed to supply linens. At this time, the hospital was primarily a custodial institution, accepting patients other hospitals were no longer able to keep. In the early 1930s, the physiotherapy, radiology, and laboratory departments were opened. It should be noted that during the 1930s, eighty-five percent of the patients admitted received free care, and a majority of the financial support for the new hospital came from the Jewish community. A new three-story wing was dedicated in 1936, doubling the size of the hospital to 87 beds. This new wing included a complete operating room, dental department, and a kosher kitchen to ensure strict adherence to Jewish dietary laws. Finally, to reflect the changing focus of the institution the name of the hospital was changed to the Jewish Memorial Hospital in 1937.

During the early 1940s, the Jewish Memorial Hospital was a 65-bed facility that cared for terminally ill patients during their last days. Care remained largely custodial. Since the few nursing homes in existence at this time were private, the poor, sick, and elderly had limited choices for medical care. In contrast to the policies followed by these larger institutions, the Jewish Memorial Hospital welcomed all those in need.

The 1940s reflected a period in which the hospital administration expanded its commitment to providing hospital care. A training school for attendant nurses was established in 1940, and in 1941 a check-up clinic was opened for discharged patients. Construction of a new 36- bed annex to the hospital was completed in 1947. The volunteer staff was expanded and became specialized. Furthermore, new programs that included physical therapy, hydrotherapy, and x-ray therapy were added to the hospital's services. During this period, the hospital's focus began to move away from custodial care to rehabilitation and active patient care in every field of medicine. Patient referrals increased, and the waiting list for entrance into the hospital grew. In 1949 a professional medical social service department was established to work with patients and families on an individualized basis, and a limited teaching and research program with the Tufts Medical School was started. This program helped to advance the hospital's scientific approach to chronic illness.

The hospital continued to grow and receive recognition in the medical community in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1950 Raoul Duffy, the famous French post-Impressionist artist, was successfully treated with cortisone for his rheumatoid arthritis and in 1952, the first hip replacement in the Boston area took place at the hospital. In 1954 the hospital received its first accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation. As an example of the hospital's growth, in 1951 more than 35,000 prescriptions were filled by the hospital pharmacy, and the kosher kitchen was preparing 800 meals a day for both patients and staff.

Building construction continued at a rapid pace. In 1955 three floors of the Main building endowed by Emily R. and Kivie Kaplan were completed, increasing the size of the hospital to 156 beds. This new construction enabled the hospital to provide for an occupational therapy facility and expand its kitchen and dinning room areas. Moreover, an Orthodox Chapel, auditorium, research laboratory, new lobbies, elevators, and administrative offices were added. In 1962 four floors of the Kaplan building were completed, and in 1964 a new nurses residence and warehouse were built. Expansion continued and by 1968 the fourth and fifth floors of the Main building and the fifth floor of the Kaplan building had been finished. Also, a new x-ray building was erected between 1966 and 1968. By the end of the 1960s, the Jewish Memorial Hospital had increased its size to 207 beds.

During the 1970s a pulmonary care unit, behavioral neuro-psychiatric unit, and rehabilitation care unit were added. In 1971, the hospital began its affiliation with the Boston University Medical Center. This program enabled the hospital to expand its teaching program and develop its medical specialties to improve patient care. In this same year, a two-story addition to the annex was completed. Construction continued and in 1972, a new ambulance entrance, linen-processing facility and centralized employee locker room were built. The pharmacy and patient rooms were also renovated.

The high point of the 1980s was the dedication of the Murray Fertel Rehabilitation Wing in 1988. This new construction replaced the original 1880 building, the annex and the 1947 buildings. The new building centralized patient support and rehabilitation services and offered the community a modern facility with state of the art equipment.

Hospital services continued to expand in the 1980s. In 1985 the Total Parenteral Nutrition program began for patients who were unable to take oral nourishment. In that same year, the Comprehensive Assessment and Rehabilitation Environment Unit was opened. This unit was dedicated to treating individuals with behavioral and functional disorders and was the only one of its kind in the Greater Boston area. In order to provide increased care for patients who could not breathe on their own, the Pulmonary Care Unit was expanded to include services for ventilator-dependent patients in 1986. Finally, the Outpatient Pediatric Rehabilitation Program for developmentally disabled children aged three months to three years was opened in 1988.

The Jewish Memorial Hospital over its seventy-year history had moved from an institution that provided only custodial care to one that now emphasized the rehabilitation of patients. Therefore, in order to more clearly reflect the focus of the hospital's programs and to enhance its image as a life-affirming institution, the name of the hospital was changed to the Jewish Memorial Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in 1992.

As the new century approached, the hospital administration remained committed to the original goals of the Roxbury Ladies' Bikur Cholim Association. Accordingly, in the 1990s the hospital expanded its patient services by developing a Peritoneal Dialysis Service and Hemodialysis Service. In 1995, a Complicated Obesity Rehabilitation Environment Program was begun and later in the decade, the hospital established new programs in cancer management and in cardiac rehabilitation.

Auxiliaries

Carrying on the earlier tradition of the Ladies' Bikur Cholim Association, the Auxiliary Groups provided for the support and care of the patients of the Jewish Memorial Hospital. They functioned as public relation emissaries and as volunteer cadres to support the daily operations of the Jewish Memorial Hospital. In the 1960s, membership in all the auxiliary groups had reached 12,000. These members included men and women, ranging from young boys and girls, to grandmothers and grandfathers. The men and women of the Auxiliaries organized many kinds of events such as the Celebrities Night fund raisers, Reward for Research Dinners, flea markets, bazaars, fashion shows, and book sales. Thousands of dollars were raised from these events to support the hospital's many programs. Moreover, Auxiliary members volunteered their time working in the hospital planning special holiday and birthday events for patients, washing and styling patients hair, and providing patients with musical entertainment.

For further information about Boston's early Jewish hospitals and the Jewish Memorial Hospital and Rehabilitation Center see the following:

Albert, Rabbi David B. Papers, Diaries. American Jewish Historical Society, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Records. American Jewish Historical Society, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Boston. Records. American Jewish Historical Society, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Linenthal, Arthur J. First a Dream: The History of Boston's Jewish Hospitals, 1896-1928. Boston: Beth Israel Hospital in association with The Frances A. Countway Library of Medicine, 1990.

Roskin, Evelyn B. and Janot S. Papers. American Jewish Historical Society, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Solomon, Barbara M. Pioneers in Service: The History of the Associated Jewish Philanthropies of Boston . Boston: Court Square Press, 1956.

The Combined Jewish Appeal. Fifty Years of Jewish Philanthropy in Greater Boston, 1895-1945 . Boston: The Combined Jewish Appeal, [1945].

From the guide to the Jewish Memorial Hospital and Rehabilitation Center (Roxbury, Mass.) records, undated, 1915-1999, with gaps, (American Jewish Historical Society)