Hospitals in Omaha, Nebraska

Image:US-NE(1891) p526 OMAHA, DOUGLAS-COUNTY HOSPITAL.jpg]]

St. Joseph's Hospital is the oldest healthcare facility in Omaha. The Sisters of Mercy opened the original facility on September 1, 1870. John A. Creighton established the John A. Creighton Medical College and provided funding to the hospital in 1892. It was originally located on lots donated by the Creighton family at 10th and Castelar Streets. A new building was opened at 30th and California Streets that combined both facilities.[http://memories.ne.gov/cdm/ref/collection/opl/id/566 "St. Joseph's Hospital"], Nebraska Memories website. Retrieved 1/18/08.

The original Immanuel Hospital was located at North 34th and Meredith Avenues in North Omaha. Built alongside the Nazareth Home, the hospital was built in 1890. The four-story brick, gothic structure was severely damaged in a wind storm in early March, 1902.[http://memories.ne.gov/cdm/ref/collection/opl/id/449 "Immanuel Hospital and Nazareth Home"], Nebraska Memories website. Retrieved 1/18/08. The original Clarkson Memorial Hospital was constructed in 1909 at 2100 Howard Street. Its five stories housed up to 80 patients.[http://memories.ne.gov/cdm/ref/collection/opl/id/56 "Clarkson Memorial Hospital"], Nebraska Memories website. Retrieved 1/18/08.

The Douglas County Hospital was planned in 1887. Finished in May 1892, the building was rehabilitated in 1894, due to sub-standard materials and building practices.[http://memories.ne.gov/cdm/ref/collection/opl/id/57 "Douglas County Hospital"], Nebraska Memories website. Retrieved 1/18/08. The original Methodist Episcopal Hospital, located at 20th and Harney Streets, was opened on March 3, 1891. Operated by the Methodist Episcopal Church, the hospital opened at 3612 Cuming Street in 1908, with a capacity to treat 2,000 patients per year. The hospital moved to 84th and West Dodge Road in 1968.[http://memories.ne.gov/cdm/ref/collection/opl/id/560 "Methodist Episcopal Hospital"], Nebraska Memories website. Retrieved 1/18/08.

File:Boys Town Medical Center (76870).jpg, c. 1930 – 1945]]

The Fort Omaha Hospital was opened in 1878 to care for soldiers wounded during the Indian Wars. Built along with several other notable buildings at the Fort, the hospital operated through the 1940s.[http://memories.ne.gov/cdm/ref/collection/opl/id/96 Hospital, Fort Omaha]. Nebraska Memories. Retrieved 1/18/08. The Ford Hospital in Omaha was built in 1916. It was a privately operated hospital built and operated by Dr. Michael J. Ford that operated until 1922. Ford was the last small, private hospital in the city.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20011222091544/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/histpres/tax/douglas2.htm "More Tax Incentive Projects in Douglas County"]}}, Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved 12/27/07.[http://cityofomaha.org/landmarks/certified%20rehabs/non%20local%20landmarks/ford%20hosp/Default.htm Ford Hospital/Fifth Avenue Hospital] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040901230035/http://cityofomaha.org/landmarks/certified%20rehabs/non%20local%20landmarks/ford%20hosp/Default.htm |date=2004-09-01 }} City of Omaha Landmark Heritage Preservation Commission. Retrieved 12/27/07. The Nicholas Senn Hospital was located at Park Avenue and Dewey Streets in Midtown Omaha. When it opened on February 1, 1912, the hospital was a modern, 60-bed building that featured one of the "finest x-ray machines in the U.S." Dr. Nicholas Senn, a member of the Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois, was the hospital's namesake.[http://memories.ne.gov/cdm/ref/collection/opl/id/569 "Nicholas Senn Hospital"], Nebraska Memories website. Retrieved 1/18/08. The Omaha Christian Institute founded Omaha's General Hospital in 1908. Sold to a private company in 1910, it was renamed Lord Lister Hospital. Located at 14th & Capitol Avenue, the building had 88 beds and treated 1,200 patients annually.[http://memories.ne.gov/cdm/ref/collection/opl/id/60 "Omaha General Hospital"], Nebraska Memories website. Retrieved 1/18/08.

Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise, founder of American Reform Judaism, was the namesake of Wise Memorial Hospital, which was located at 406 South 24th Street. Sited on a lot donated by the wife of J.L. Brandeis, the facility was built in 1912 for $125,000. Between 1912 and 1917 the hospital treated more than 1,000 patients. In 1930, the institution closed,National Conference of Jewish Social Service. (1955) The Jewish Social Service Quarterly. p. 20. with the Lutheran Hospital Association purchasing the facility and opening Lutheran Hospital there 1931.[http://memories.ne.gov/cdm/ref/collection/opl/id/548 "Wise Memorial Hospital"], Nebraska Memories website. Retrieved 1/18/08.

Image:DouglasCountyHospital.jpg in Midtown Omaha]]

St. Catherine's Hospital, located at S. 7th and Forest Ave, was a Catholic institution operated by the Sisters of Mercy from 1910 through 1977.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/65359853@N00/6027451908 "St. Catherine Hospital Omaha NE 1963"], flickr. Retrieved 10/03/18. Omaha banker Augustus Kountze sold his "old mansion" on Forest Hill overlooking downtown Omaha to the sisters. With the support of Bishop Scannell in Omaha, they opened a maternity hospital there in 1910. It was never solely a maternity hospital though, and was a busy institution throughout its existence. Originally holding 36 patients, it was expanded in 1916 and 1925, and in 1950 the hospital grew again to 200 beds. In 1962, its mission changed when the Bergan Mercy Hospital opened in west Omaha and it served as a hospital for the aged and dying for the next 15 years. In 1977, the building was sold to Grace Bible College, which operated it until 2018. The original facility still stands within the existing structure, which has been converted into apartments and stands at 811 Forest Avenue.

Evangelical Covenant Hospital was opened as the Swedish Mission Hospital in North Omaha in 1908. Located at 3706 North 24th Street, it was renamed the Evangelical Covenant Hospital in 1924. The hospital was funded by the Swedish Evangelical Covenant Church and closed in 1938 due to financial difficulties. Sold to the Salvation Army, the building was a maternity hospital and senior home for several decades before it was demolished in 1975.[https://northomahahistory.com/2023/08/16/a-history-of-the-omaha-swedish-mission-hospital/ "A History of the Swedish Mission Hospital"] by Adam Fletcher Sasse for NorthOmahaHistory.com. Retrieved April 16, 2025.

Other historic hospitals in Omaha include "Omaha’s first Mercy Hospital, Wise Memorial, Central, Immanuel Deaconess, Booth Memorial Women, Fort Omaha Hospital, Methodist and Midtown, Kountze Park, St. Luke, Presbyterian, Frederick, St. Joseph, and The People’s Hospital have all called North Omaha home. The Negro Women’s Christian Home, the Friendship House, and the Charles Drew Health Center have all been here, too."[https://northomahahistory.com/2015/09/17/a-history-of-hospitals-and-healthcare-in-north-omaha/ "A History of Hospitals and Healthcare in North Omaha"] by Adam Fletcher Sasse for NorthOmahaHistory.com. Retrieved April 16, 2025.

Omaha has a long history of racial segregation in hospitals and healthcare.Fletcher Sasse, Adam (2021) #OmahaBlackHistory: African American people, places and events in the history of Omaha, Nebraska. Olympia, WA: CommonAction Publishing. In addition to preventing Black people from using the city's hospitals for a century, Jim Crow also prevented dozens of African American physicians, surgeons and specialists from using these institutions as well. In extreme circumstances, it was regular practice for Black doctors to leave their patients at the doors of a hospital to be attended by white doctors. Not only did this deny African American patients from their regular doctor's services, it also denied Black doctors' income from attending their regular patients at hospitals.(2023) [https://drive.google.com/file/d/12EBZ9PaUZg9qk0NslSCb6bbEkxO8AIfD/view "Omaha Health Equity History Timeline"] by the Douglas County Health Department. Retrieved September 1, 2024.

In response to this situation, there were several attempts to start segregated hospitals in the city's primary historic African American neighborhood called the Near North Side. Out of more than a half-dozen initiatives, one facility called the People's Hospital was launched and maintained by Dr. Aaron McMillan for five years before being closed by the City of Omaha.(December 27, 2022) [https://www.omahamagazine.com/uncategorized/north-omaha-s-people-s-hospital-open-to-anyone/ "North Omaha’s People’s Hospital: Open to Anyone"], Omaha Magazine. Retrieved September 1, 2024. Additionally, Black healthcare professionals kept independent offices to serve their patients in North Omaha, South Omaha and downtown Omaha from the 1870s through the 1970s.Fletcher Sasse, Adam (July 29, 2019) [https://northomahahistory.com/2019/07/24/a-history-of-segregated-hospitals-in-omaha/ "A history of segregated hospitals and healthcare in North Omaha"], NorthOmahaHistory.com. Retrieved September 1, 2024.

To this day, North Omaha is a healthcare desert with no hospitals and few healthcare clinics available throughout the community. Today, the Charles Drew Health Center, an independent 501(c)(3) organization, is one such provider that primarily serves the Black population in Omaha today.Fletcher Sasse, Adam. (n.d.) [https://charlesdrew.com/about/a-history-of-healthcare-in-north-omaha/ "A History of Healthcare in North Omaha"], Charles Drew Healthcare Center, Inc. Retrieved September 1, 2024.

• Nebraska Methodist Health System
• CHI Health
• Historic companies in Omaha, Nebraska
• Nebraska Medicine
• University of Nebraska Medical Center

{{reflist|2}}

• [https://northomahahistory.com/2019/07/24/a-history-of-segregated-hospitals-in-omaha/ "A history of segregated hospitals in Omaha, Nebraska"] by Adam Fletcher Sasse for NorthOmahaHistory.com
• [https://northomahahistory.com/2015/09/17/a-history-of-hospitals-and-healthcare-in-north-omaha/ "A history of hospitals and healthcare in North Omaha"] by Adam Fletcher Sasse for NorthOmahaHistory.com

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Category:Healthcare in Omaha, Nebraska