USA Health Providence Hospital facts for kids
Quick facts for kids USA Health Providence Hospital |
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North elevation in 2009
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| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Hospital |
| Location | 6801 Airport Boulevard, Mobile, Alabama, United States |
| Coordinates | 30°40′45″N 88°11′56″W / 30.67917°N 88.19889°W |
| Construction started | 1982 |
| Opening | 1987 |
| Owner | University of South Alabama Health Care Authority |
| Height | |
| Roof | 170 feet (52 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 11 |
| Lifts/elevators | 8 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Bertrand Goldberg |
USA Health Providence Hospital is a large hospital located in Mobile, Alabama, in the United States. It is also known simply as Providence Hospital. This hospital has 349 beds for patients.
The main hospital building is a tall structure, sometimes called a high-rise. It was finished in 1987. The building stands about 170 feet (52 meters) tall and has 11 floors. It is part of a very large campus that covers 277 acres (112 hectares). A famous American architect named Bertrand Goldberg designed the hospital. He is also known for designing the Marina City complex in Chicago.
Contents
The History of Providence Hospital
Early Days and Founding
Providence Hospital was started in 1854 by a group of caring women called the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. They came from Emmitsburg, Maryland. Before this, in 1841, the first bishop of Mobile, Michael Portier, asked four of these Sisters to come to Mobile. They came to help children who had lost their parents, especially after an illness called yellow fever spread.
By 1852, the Sisters were helping to run the City Hospital of Mobile. However, they stopped working there in 1854 due to some challenges at the time. Because of this, a group of local citizens decided to help. On August 15, 1854, they formed a group to build a new hospital just for the Sisters. This new hospital, with 60 beds, was completed in 1855. It was located at the corner of Broad and St. Anthony Streets.
Moving to New Locations
In 1902, the hospital moved to a new building. This building was designed in a style called Mediterranean Revival. It was located on an 11-acre (4.5-hectare) campus on Springhill Avenue. Just two years later, in 1904, the Sisters started the second school of nursing in Alabama. This school helped train new nurses.
By the late 1940s, the 100-bed hospital building was too small. So, in February 1949, construction began on a new, bigger building. This new hospital was designed in a Modern style and had 250 beds. It was finished in October 1952.
Designing a Modern Hospital
By the 1980s, even the 1952 building was not big enough. The Sisters decided to move the hospital again. They chose a large 250-acre (101-hectare) site on the western edge of the city. They hired Bertrand Goldberg, the architect, to design the new hospital. He was known for his smart hospital designs. This new hospital cost about $60 million to build.
Goldberg had a special way of designing hospital rooms. He called it a "bed-cluster pod." This meant that groups of patient rooms were built around a central nurse's station. This design made it easier for nurses to see and reach patients quickly. Construction on this tall, reinforced concrete building started in 1982. The hospital welcomed its first patients on July 15, 1987.
Changes in Ownership
In 1999, the Daughters of Charity National Health System joined with another health system to form a new company called Ascension Health. Providence Hospital became part of Ascension Health in 1999. In 2017, the hospital's name changed to Ascension Providence to show it was part of the larger Ascension company.
More recently, on April 18, 2023, it was announced that The University of South Alabama Health Care Authority, also known as USA Health, would buy Providence Hospital. They bought the hospital and its clinics from Ascension for $85 million. On October 1, 2023, the sale was completed. This made Providence Hospital a part of USA Health, which is the university's health system.
See also
- List of tallest buildings in Mobile
