(Page 2 of 2) Print Version
Mercy Hospital
The Story of Mercy Hospital began in the fall of 1918, with one of the greatest health crisis in the city's history, the pandemic known as the Spanish Influenza. This emergency, along with limited proper hospital facilities in the Portland area, prompted Bishop Walsh to enlist the help of the Sisters of Mercy.
Over the years, Mercy has faced many challenges; a growing and changing population, and dramatically different medical technologies. At the turn of the 21st century, as those challenges began to exceed the capabilities of the State Street facility, Mercy Hospital embarked on a campaign to create the Mercy Fore River campus. Phase I of Mercy Fore River opened in September 2008 with a state-of-the-art medical office building and an advanced new hospital facility. This provided additional inpatient and outpatient surgical services, diagnostic imaging, laboratory, and The Birthplace.
Western Maine Sanatorium
Explore the exhibit, Among the Lungers: Treating TB
Item Contributed by
Maine Historic Preservation Commission
Sanatoriums for treatment of people with tuberculosis, often built on mountains or hilltops where the air was cool and the breezes frequent, were the best available option in the 1920s for people who contracted the disease.
Maine Medical School at Bowdoin College
The Maine Medical School was founded at Bowdoin College in Brunswick in 1820. It operated for 101 years there, and closed in June of 1921.
In 1891, the faculty of the school made an appeal to the public for aid in moving the medical school to Portland. In this appeal, they wrote, "the medical school must be moved to Portland, where the Maine General Hospital, with its one hundred and twenty-five beds, the Greeley Hospital, the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary, the United States Marine Hospital and Portland Dispensary are available."
In 1899, Maine General Hospital established a teaching institution for the Medical School of Maine. The first two years students attended Bowdoin College, while years three and four were at Maine General Hospital.
Friendly URL: https://www.mainememory.net/exhibits/doinggood
