Excerpted from the San Francisco Chronicle
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ADVERTISING FEATURE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Transforming Care. N10 Advertising Feature • • Sunday, May 22, 2016 A vibrant history of caring for others By Kyla Cathey which reached San Francisco in late 1850 — were difficult to treat At 5:12 a.m. April 18, 1906, a in the tent hospitals that existed violent earthquake shattered the in the city at that time. On April San Francisco morning. Many of 30, 1851, the State Legislature of the buildings that survived the California passed an act creating quake fell to the fires that roared a State Marine Hospital in San through the city. The citizens of Francisco, with $50,000 ear- San Francisco were left refugees marked for its construction. in their own city. Disaster brought 1 1855: The State Marine Hospi- disease in its wake. tal building became the City and But one building survived the County Hospital of San Fran- earthquake: San Francisco Gen- cisco, with Dr. Hugh Toland, a eral remained standing on Potre- doctor from South Carolina, ro Avenue and brought medical serving as the hospital’s surgeon. care and comfort to the city’s 1 shell-shocked residents. 1857: The City and County The hospital, now the Priscilla Hospital purchased the North Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Beach School, transforming it Francisco General Hospital and into a 150-bed hospital. The Trauma Center, has a tradition of beds were filled quickly, and the helping San Franciscans in need hospital was often overflowing that goes back to its earliest days. with up to 400 patients at a time. From disasters like the 1906 COURTESY ZUCKERBERG SAN FRANCISCO GENERAL HISTORICAL ARCHIVES 1 1873: The Toland Medical earthquake and fire, to epidem- Above: The San Francisco General Hospital expanded in the 1920s. Below left: The original hospital College was gifted to the Univer- ics of cholera, plague, tuberculo- was on Potrero Avenue. Below right: The hospital provided nurse training and some of the first sity of California system, becom- sis and HIV/AIDS, the hospital medical internships. ing the university system’s medi- has been a bastion of care. cal school. Recent years have brought 1 1874: The regents of the big changes to Zuckerberg San Medical Department of the Uni- Francisco General. versity of California, as UCSF was “The biggest change, of then known, passed a resolution course, is the new hospital, which allowing women to attend the has state-of-the-art equipment, medical school. Teacher Lucy so we can continue to provide Wanzer was the first to take ad- the kind of diagnostic and in- vantage of the new opportunity, patient services that are available graduating in 1876. at the best hospitals, anywhere in 1 the country,” said Dr. Sue Car- 1895: The hospital started a lisle, PhD, MD, Vice Dean, UCSF horse-drawn ambulance service. School of Medicine at Zucker- 1 1897: Physicians at the City berg San Francisco General. and County Hospital began In the 35 years Dr. Carlisle has distributing a diphtheria antitoxin been at Zuckerberg San Fran- to San Franciscans free of charge. cisco General, she has watched COURTESY ZUCKERBERG SAN FRANCISCO GENERAL HISTORICAL ARCHIVES COURTESY OF SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY Diphtheria had been a leading the hospital evolve from a medi- afford treatment. adopted worldwide. tions, it’s a partnership that is cause of death among the city’s cal center and teaching hospital Those aren’t the only positive At the same time, some things more vital than ever, for patients, children throughout the city’s with limited resources to a state changes she’s seen. In her early have stayed the same — such as students, residents and faculty history. of the art research facility and a days at the hospital, it was the Zuckerberg San Francisco Gener- alike . 1 1900: In March, the first bu- leader in a number of global first in the world with an inpatient al’s partnership between UCSF “It’s a very active place for bonic plague cases in the conti- health initiatives. HIV/AIDS ward — one in which and the city’s Department of UCSF staff to be,” Dr. Carlisle nental U.S. were recorded in San Another change: As many as patients came to live out their Public Health, which goes back said. Francisco’s Chinatown. The epi- 40 percent of the hospital’s pa- final days, because the virus more than 140 years. demic lasted four years and led tients were once uninsured. With could not be treated at that time. “We feel that we’re a very Here are some key moments in to 113 deaths, mainly among the advent of the Affordable Care Now, the hospital no longer has important hub not only for clinical the hospital’s long and illustri- Chinatown residents. ous history: Act, that number is down to an inpatient ward, because most care but for research and educa- 1 about 7 percent, Dr. Carlisle said. of its HIV/AIDS patients have tion as well,” Dr. Carlisle said. 1906: The historic San Fran- Many are on Medi-Cal, which been living long, full productive With so much going on at the 1 1851: The roots of the hospital cisco earthquake strikes, putting while not the same as private lives after their diagnosis. The hospital, especially with new stretch back to the earliest days San Francisco General at the insurance, is an improvement San Francisco model of care — disease research and a focus on of the city, when the population forefront as first responders. over the city having to fully cover pioneered at Zuckerberg San creating policy for care and treat- was growing rapidly. Crises like 1 1907: In the wake of the earth- costs of patients who could not Francisco General — has been ment of underserved popula- the cholera epidemic of 1849 — quake and fire, a second epidem- Sunday, May 22, 2016 • • Advertising Feature N11 ic of bubonic plague swept through the city, this time spill- ing outside of Chinatown’s borders. Rats infected with the plague were found in the hospi- tal’s buildings in 1908, and the hospital was condemned and burned. The hospital staff spent three years at the Ingleside Jockey Club. 1 1910: Tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in San Francisco, and the city had the highest mortality rate from the disease among major U.S. cities. 1 1915: A new hospital, called San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), opened at the Potrero Avenue site with two buildings. The main building was for gen- eral hospital use, and a second building was to house tubercu- losis patients. 1 1918: The Spanish influenza epidemic reached San Fran- cisco, and the hospital strug- PHOTOS COURTESY ZUCKERBERG SAN FRANCISCO GENERAL HISTORICAL ARCHIVES gled with overcrowding and Above: San Francisco General Hospital started a horse-drawn ambulance service in 1895. Below left: Toland Medical College was gifted understaffing as doctors and to the University of California system in 1873. Below right: The hospital had to convert horse stables into extra space for services. nurses were infected. 1 1924: The first psychiatric ward opened at San Francisco General. 1 1938: The Maternity Hospital opened at San Francisco General. 1 1939: San Francisco General opened the first blood bank in Northern California. 1 1960: The hospital estab- lished a premature baby clinic after a large number of prema- ture births. 1 1964: San Franciscans voted to pass a $33.7 million bond to replace the aging hospital, allowing it to expand to 563 grant from the American Cancer 1 1991: San Francisco General to develop guidelines for anti- in general obligation bonds to general beds as well as provide Society let researchers from Hospital Foundation is estab- retroviral treatment of AIDS that build the new hospital. San space to 226 psychiatric SFGH and UCSF begin studying lished by a small group of like- would be used worldwide. Francisco General Hospital inpatients. Kaposi’s sarcoma. minded individuals that in- 1 2004: The hospital opened Foundation embarks on the 1 1975: UCSF and SFGH 1 1983: In January, the hospital cluded local community leaders the Avon Comprehensive Breast Heart of Our City Capital Cam- launched a nurse-midwifery opened Ward 86, the first out- and health care providers, as an Care Center, providing care and paign to raise additional funds service as part of the Depart- patient clinic in the country independent, nonprofit organi- breast cancer screening. to equip the new hospital with zation to raise philanthropic life-saving equipment and ment of Obstetrics, Gynecology dedicated to AIDS patients. In 1 2007: San Francisco General funds through individual, foun- furnishings. and Reproductive Sciences. July, Ward 5B, the first ded- received “Baby-Friendly” status dation and corporate donations 1 1976: The Alternative Birth icated inpatient AIDS clinic in from the United Nations Chil- to support what is now Zucker- 1 2015: Priscilla Chan and Mark Center opened as part of SFGH. the U.S., also opened. It was dren’s Fund and the World berg San Francisco General. Zuckerberg announce their 1 later moved to the larger 5A. Health Organization. Zucker- 1981: San Francisco General 1 $75M gift, the largest single 1 1992: The AIDS Clinical Re- berg San Francisco General is Hospital first began document- 1987: The hospital and UCSF private gift from an individual to search Center opened at the the only Baby-Friendly certified ing cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma, began running trials of the AIDS a public hospital in the United hospital. hospital in San Francisco. pneumocystis pneumonia, and treatment drug AZT. States and the largest gift San 1 2002: San Francisco General 1 other unusual illnesses, primari- 1 1989: The first students en- 2008: San Francisco voters Francisco General Hospital and UCSF worked together with ly among gay men — the first tered UCSF’s master’s degree in overwhelmingly pass Proposi- Foundation has received since it the World Health Organization AIDS cases in San Francisco.