The "The Demise Of Spiritual Health Care In Lancaster, Pennsylvania" Story

An early photograph of St. Joseph's Hospital.

It was an ordinary day.  Found out I have just outlived the hospital where I was born almost 75 years ago.  The same hospital where my wife was born and our first son was born.  St. Joseph’s Hospital, more recently known as UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster, dates back to 1883 when the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia established the first hospital in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  The building in which the hospital was begun was erected in 1877 by the Brothers of St. John of God.  When the Sisters arrived in Lancaster in 1883 to open the hospital, they had a budget of $2.50 and two apples. 

A picture postcard which featured St. Joseph Hospital.

The building had no electricity, running water or beds.  One sister, Cecilia, placed the two apples on a windowsill one morning near a statue of St. Joseph and asked him to multiply the food for the people who would come for care.  By the end of the day two barrels of apples appeared with a note that read, “To the Sister Cook.”  That was the beginning of a spiritual journey for health care in Lancaster.  The hospital was incorporated in 1885 with 121 patients walking through the door.  By 1891 300 patients could be accommodated at the hospital.  The following century saw a new wing opened for surgery and a school to train nurses. 

An updated St. Joseph Hospital.

By the 1950s new buildings replaced the original structure and five years later daily prayers were delivered over the loud- speakers.  Almost 120 years after the Sisters arrived in Lancaster, St. Joseph had grown into a thriving hospital with a medical staff representing more than 30 medical specialties.  In 1982 comedian Bob Hope made a visit to the hospital to give a benefit performance to try and raise money for upgrades.  In 2000, the hospital’s name was changed to Lancaster Regional Medical Center when Florida-based Health Management Associates Inc. acquired the hospital.  Then in 2014 Tennessee-based Community Health Systems Inc. acquired the hospital.  Since 2000 you could begin to see the deterior- ation of Lancaster’s beloved St. Joseph’s Hospital.  Walls seemed dirty and faded.  Halls seemed dingy and seemed to go nowhere in the maze of rooms and halls.  When my wife made a visit to the hospital with a bout of appendicitis two years ago, a priest made a visit to her room to see how she was doing.  The spiritual part of healing was still part of their program.  

Bob Hope visited St. Joseph's Hospital in 1982.

Then in 2017 Harrisburg-based Pinnacle- Health acquired the hospital.  And now, after more than 135 years, the hospital on College Ave. is preparing to meet it’s death.  UPMC Pinnacle announced that the beloved hospital in the city of Lancaster will be closed with its services moved to it's sister hospital, UPMC Pinnacle Lititz, formerly known as Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center.  Medicine has become big business and the 214-bed hospital at 250 College Avenue is not as profitable as it should be.  By March those living in the city of Lancaster will have to head to the other side of town to Lancaster General Hospital, now a member of the University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine) for health care.  Its the same hospital where I recently had my 4th back surgery and had to recover in a small room with another patient that needed 24-hour help and made it extremely difficult to get any sleep. 

The Heart of Lancaster/Pinnacle Health Lititz
Hospital will take over for the old St. Joe's.

The over-crowded Lancaster General will now be overrun with more needy patients.  But, money seems to be everything.....especially in the health field.  The passionate care once administered at St. Joseph’s Hospital has passed away, much like many of its patients.  I don't known which area of St. Joe’s I was born, but they did a good job!  Same goes for my wife and son.  What will become of the place.  Many say it will be razed for a new office building or maybe a retirement community or maybe another shopping center.  I can almost hear those battered walls of St. Joe’s Hospital crying out to all trying to say, "the people of Lancaster need us to remain a medical facility for the needy of the city."  But talk doesn’t trump money.  Always seems to be that way, doesn’t it?  So sad!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.