St. Luke's

ST. L

golden anniversary is being celebrated this year which is significant because it reflects man's ability to do God's will in the face of seemingly impossible odds. The year 1957 marks the fiftieth year since the founding of St. Luke's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. It was established as "St. Luke's Home" through the auspices of the Episcopal Church, and its history is a heart-warming story of people of many denominations working together to serve thousands of sufferers from all over the country, regardless of race, creed or station in life. Many of you know the Phoenix of today with its beautiful homes and lovely gardens and flourishing businesses. Perhaps you have driven past the new memorial building of St. Luke's Hospital at 1820 East Polk Street and admired the simple architecture and the beautiful setting of verdant lawns accented with flowering shrubs and roses. Maybe you know of the progressive medical program which is rapidly turning this little hospital into a leading medical center specializing in heart and chest diseases once again pioneering in a field where need comes first, followed by those associated with St. Luke's setting their hearts and minds toward meeting that need.That is how St. Luke's came into existence fifty years ago. A need existed. In fact, the need was so great and the problem so terrifying that most people felt that it was hopeless to even try to do anything about it! Hundreds of people afflicted with tuberculosis were turning to the hot dry climate of the Southwest to try to find a cure for this dread disease. There were no hospitals anywhere in Arizona that could help these patients there were few doctors. There weren't even satisfactory rest homes where they were welcome or where they could find help. Many had to lie about their illness in order to find a place to sleep, for those who were well were understandably fearful of catching the white plague. These men and women who were suffering from tuberculosis were not only sick in body but they were sick at heart, too, for they usually had little money and practically no hope at all for the future. It was a desperate, discouraging situation. In 1907 the population of Phoenix was approximately 10,000, and the entire state of Arizona boasted fewer people than now reside in the Greater Phoenix area. These folks had their hands full trying to wrest a living from this barren desert land that was truly a rugged frontier fifty years ago. These pioneers simply could not add to their financial problems the burden of the transient sick.

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This was the situation that existed in 1907. At that time the Right Reverend J. Mills Kendrick was the bishop of the Episcopal Missionary District of New Mexico and Arizona. He presented the problem to the Reverend Julius T. Atwood and a young divinity student, Bertrand R. Cocks, and God gave these men the courage to try to accomplish the impossible. Both had a very personal interest in the problems of tuberculosis. Mrs. Atwood had died after a long illness, a victim of tuberculosis, and Mrs. Cocks was fighting the ravages of this same disease. In fact, Mrs. Cocks was the first patient at St. Luke's and the dramatic story of her recovery proved an inspiration to hundreds of other patients through the years.Bishop Atwood (he became bishop of the Episcopal Missionary District of Arizona when this area was separated from the Missionary District of New Mexico in 1909) concentrated his efforts on raising money in the East to establish a refuge for those suffering from tuberculosis. The Reverend Cocks worked at building the cottages and an administration building and supervised the care of the patients. He was St. Luke's first superintendent and served for thirty-four years until his death in 1941.

Bishop Atwood talked to every group he could meet on his visits to the eastern part of the country. He cornered wealthy friends and poured out his story of the need at the little sanatorium where hope was replacing hopelessness. Men and women who had never been in the Southwest were inspired by this man's zeal. They gave generously. They established memorial endowments. They left bequests in their wills because they were moved by the words of Bishop Atwood, and those who followed him, to help in this courageous fight.

In Phoenix the Rev. Cocks was working from dawn to long after dusk to provide the physical plant needed to care for the patients. No armchair superintendent, he was sawing wood and hammering nails to complete the buildings. Compared with today's modern equipment those little wooden shelters were primitive, indeed, but they spelled the difference between life and death for many a patient who had come to Arizona as a last resort. Here the will to live was restored and the records are filled with the miraculous recovery of patients at first considered incurable. Thousands have been restored to health at St. Luke's.

There is a dramatic contrast between the St. Luke's Hospital of 1957 and the simple tent cottage facilities of St. Luke's Home in 1907. Today general medical and surgical care are available at St. Luke's with emphasis on diagnosis and treatment of heart and chest diseases, while in the early days St. Luke's was limited to the care of tuberculosis patients. Today modern air-conditioning keeps patients comfortable the year around. In the early days the only way to beat the heat was to leave the Valley and seek shelter for the summer in some mountain retreat. Today St. Luke's has assets of well over a million dollars; the endowment fund is $167,802; the annual payroll is over $200,000. Certainly quite a difference from the report made by Bishop Atwood on April 30, 1908, when he listed the value of equipment and buildings at $4,725 and the endowment fund at $5,000. Records are not available as to the exact number on the payroll in those early years but a look at the total annual expenditures . . . $3,618 in 1908 and $6,092 in 1909 . . . is a good indication that the payroll was small, for those totals included not only salaries but food, utilities, etc.

tuberculosis patients. Today modern air-conditioning keeps patients comfortable the year around. In the early days the only way to beat the heat was to leave the Valley and seek shelter for the summer in some mountain retreat. Today St. Luke's has assets of well over a million dollars; the endowment fund is $167,802; the annual payroll is over $200,000. Certainly quite a difference from the report made by Bishop Atwood on April 30, 1908, when he listed the value of equipment and buildings at $4,725 and the endowment fund at $5,000. Records are not available as to the exact number on the payroll in those early years but a look at the total annual expenditures . . . $3,618 in 1908 and $6,092 in 1909 . . . is a good indication that the payroll was small, for those totals included not only salaries but food, utilities, etc.

St. Luke's was established on three and a half acres of desert outside the city limits. This area has been expanded to over fourteen acres, and the city has long since encompassed its grounds. Bordered by Polk Street on the south and Villa on the north, between 18th and 19th Streets, St. Luke's is practically in the heart of the expanded Phoenix. Aerial pictures of the grounds taken in 1930 and again in 1954 show how the residential area has built up around St. Luke's and how the hospital's buildings have multiplied and been improved. Much of the transition of St. Luke's from a small sanatorium to a modern hospital took place during the ten years Carroll Phelps was administrator (1945-1955). In June, 1945, the Right Reverend Arthur B. Kinsolving arrived in Phoenix to take over his work as bishop of the Episcopal Missionary District of Arizona (The Rt. Rev. Walter Mitchell had resigned effective Jan. 1, 1945). Bishop Kinsolving was immediately faced with the problem of what to do about St. Luke's Home, for he was president of the Board of Trustees. The war years had seriously affected this little sanatorium . . . only the most necessary repairs had been made . . . finances were at low ebb . . . and it had no administrator. At that time Carroll Phelps was a convalescent patient at St. Luke's, allowed only a few hours of work in the office as occupational therapy. But his association with the work at St. Luke's had convinced him that this was no ordinary sanatorium . . . it had something extremely valuable to offer those fighting to regain their health. "It is hard to explain," he said, "but, although we had to apologize for lack of material things in those days, we were always proud of the undefinable spirit of good will and Christian compassion that is so much a part of St. Luke's." Mr. Phelps soon took over the full time job of administrator at St. Luke's, and within three years the porches of the main building and the annex were glassed in and coolers installed throughout. Many of the rooms and cottages were remodeled and bed capacity was increased to eighty, occupancy being near 100% all of the time. However, the buildings were old and the need for more modern facilities, plus surgical and diagnostic equipment, soon became evident and plans were made for the new 64-bed memorial building which was opened in 1954, beginning a new era in service for St. Luke's Hospital. Carroll Phelps resigned in 1955 and was succeeded by Walter J. Montignani, the present administrator.

The health picture of the entire state of Arizona has changed with the years, with tremendous strides forward having been made in the fight against tuberculosis. In 1907 the climate, good food and rest were the doctors' best hope to cure those seeking health. Convalescents were faced with years of treatment and the patient who was able to go back to work in less than a year was the rare exception. Now, because of improved diagnostic techniques and superior medical and surgical procedures, the long-term tuberculosis patient is the exception.

With the influx of business and government installations in Arizona, as well as an increase in the number of winter visitors, the population has grown to include more and more people who have no health problems, and of those who do choose this climate for health reasons only a very small percentage are tuberculosis patients. However, because the climate is particularly healthful for those with heart and respiratory diseases (and because more and more older people are finding Arizona a pleasant mecca for their retirement years) there has been an increasing need for a hospital dedicated to this specialized field. This need was recognized by the board of trustees when St. Luke's memorial building was added in 1954. It is the reason that the new Louis Galland memorial wing has just been added.

Now, for the first time, many of the highly technical procedures needed for complete diagnosis and treatment of heart and chest diseases are available to patients of the Valley and the state. With the help of the Greater Arizona Heart Association, which has already provided much of the equipment for the heart clinic, these facilities will continue to develop in scope.

During the past fifty years more than six thousand tuberculosis patients have been treated at St. Luke's Hospital. In addition over two thousand patients with heart, respiratory and other conditions (all non-tuberculosis) have been treated since the diversification program started August 1, 1954. These figures are on the conservative side since they do not include readmissions. However, they serve to give a general picture of what is being done, and what has been done, at St. Luke's Hospital.

At St. Luke's, as well as at many other hospitals, more and more highly technical equipment is being added which speeds both diagnosis and treatment. These lifesaving facilities are expensive and so rates are higher per day than in the past. However, when the patient takes into consideration that he or she usually does not have to be hospitalized for as long a period as formerly, the cost per admission is lower. This not only means that hospital beds can serve more patients, but also that patients lose less time from their jobs and families.

Most important of all, of course, is the fact that medical and surgical skills, combined with modern hospitals with their fine equipment, extensive laboratory facilities and amazing new medications, are saving lives today which simply could not have been saved even as recently as five years ago. This is particularly true in the cardio-respiratory (heart-chest) field, which has moved forward unusually fast since 1950 in both diagnostic and treatment techniques. Not long ago the prediction was made that by 1966 Phoenix would have a population of 400,000 and Maricopa County one million. This necessitates very careful planning ahead for St. Luke's and all of the hospitals of this area. As St. Luke's records its first fifty years, it is busy planning greater future service.