Stamford Hospital

Founding and early history

John Clasen, a farmer and former state legislator, town assessor and school board member, is credited with the founding of Stamford Hospital. After consultation with his friend and attorney, Edwin L. Scofield (later the second mayor of Stamford), regarding possible philanthropies, he gave the initial funding for the hospital by selling some of his property. Clasen raised about $45,000 from the sale of the property.[3] Clasen's only conditions for the money were that the new institution would be named Stamford Hospital, be nonsectarian and not discriminate in receiving patients.[3] Subsequently, the hospital opened with 30 beds on May 7, 1896 in a mansion on East Main Street, just west of the railroad bridge.[3]

Edgar L. Geibel, chief administrator of the hospital from 1954 to 1977, oversaw significant change and growth of the hospital, specifically from 1966 to 1969, with the construction of the hospital's signature white pavilion wing designed by Perkins & Will.

From 1994 to 2000, the hospital had significant financial difficulties, but the hospital's finances began to improve under CEO Brian Grissler, with revenues in 2007 of $357 million.[4] \[5]

In early 2006, the hospital actively considered moving to a new, undetermined site and construct a new hospital in order to enlarge hospital rooms (which were approximately half the size of those of more modern hospitals), as well as expand and modernize clinical departments (particularly the emergency department, critical care units and cardiac labs). However, this proposal was scrapped in favor of building a large expansion. The expansion of the hospital, dubbed "New Stamford Hospital" resulted in a large 11 story glass structure, becoming the dominant portion of the hospital. This expansion was completed late 2016 and cost approximately 575 Million dollars.[4][6] The Perkins & Will white pavilion building is largely vacant, with its future plans to be determined.

Stamford Health as an organization has expanded significantly since 2010, now with a large affiliated medical staff, Stamford Health Medical Group. In that same time, Stamford Health has opened numerous small outpatient clinical, laboratory and imaging facilities spanning throughout Fairfield County and southwestern Connecticut.

Stamford Health's Bennett Medical Center is located in Stamford, Connecticut, adjacent to downtown. The campus contains the main hospital as well as additional outpatient facilities. The hospital structure is composed of various wings, including the new 11 story glass tower as well as the original Perkins & Will and Whittingham pavilions. Adjoined to the main structure is the outpatient Bennett Cancer Center as well as a standalone Medical Office Building (M.O.B.). The Tandet Center, previously a nursing home, is currently used for administrative purposes, including housing the affiliated Sacred Heart University Physician Assistant training program.[7]

Bennett Cancer Center

Part of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Care Collaborative of Harvard, the Bennett Cancer Center provides comprehensive cancer care services within Stamford Health. [7][8] The staff includes the full array of cancer care physicians, including Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Interventional Radiology/Oncology as well as ancillary specialists such as Geneticists. The facility participates in multiple ongoing scientific studies for researching advanced therapies for cancer. In early 2007 the hospital started a "Familial Colorectal Cancer Registry" for individuals and families with a history of colorectal or associated cancers, the first of its kind in Connecticut[9] It was named for longtime benefactors Carl and Dorothy Bennett.

Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS)

In 2018, Stamford Hospital and Hospital for Special Surgery opened a collaborative nursing unit and operating rooms within the main hospital, staffed by HSS orthopedic and sports medicine physicians. Additionally, HSS and Stamford Health staff collaborate at Stamford's Chelsea Piers facility, primarily for sports rehabilitation.

Cohen Children's Specialty Center at Stamford Hospital

An extensive pediatric ward within Stamford hospital, the Cohen Children's Center provides all branches of pediatric medicine, surgery and neonatal intensive care services. This works in concert with the hospital's dedicated pediatric emergency room, which is staffed by fellowship trained pediatric emergency physicians.

Tully Health Center

A satellite campus located a few miles northwest of the main hospital, the facility includes multiple health care services in an outpatient "medical mall" setting. Named after Daniel and Grace Tully, whose family who made a significant donation to The Campaign for Stamford Hospital, the center opened in the spring of 2002 after overhauling the formerly St. Josephs Hospital.[10] The Patty and George Sarner Health & Fitness Institute is housed within and provides access for both rehabilitation and personal fitness.

Auxiliary sites

In addition to those listed above, Stamford hospital has several additional outpatient facilities scattered throughout southwestern Connecticut, largely imaging centers and clinical offices of the affiliated Stamford Health Medical Group (SHMG). These include HSS at Chelsea Piers, Darien Imaging Center, Darien Medical Center, Wilton Surgery Center, Holly Hill Greenwich among others.

The 305 bed Stamford Hospital and nearly 500 affiliated physicians provide patient care in all of the general medical specialties as well as the majority of subspecialties typically seen within a regional referral center.

Certified Level II Trauma Center, required emergency surgical subspecialty care is available, including Trauma surgery, Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, Vascular Surgery and Interventional Radiology.

Certified "Thrombectomy Capable" by The Joint Commission to treat acute stroke, with Interventional Neuroradiology available.

The hospital's focus has been to become a regionally respected center for Neurology/Stroke, Invasive and Non-invasive Cardiology/Cardiac Surgery and Orthopedics.[10]

Special programs

To amuse patients, some volunteers at the hospital roam the halls dressed up as clowns, calling themselves Health and Humor Associates (or "HAHA").[11]

In 2004, the Joint Commission awarded the annual Ernest A. Codman Award for creating a protocol to maintain correct blood glucose levels in critically ill patients. The new protocol cut the death rate among those patients by 29 percent and shortened time spent in the intensive care unit by 11 percent.[12]

Stamford Hospital was awarded American Nurses Credentialing Center Award for Excellence in Nursing Services in 2005. Stamford Hospital was one of 168 hospitals in the country to receive the award.

In 2007 Ernst & Young LLP gave Brian Grissler, the hospital president, its Entrepreneur of the Year award in the "social enterprise" category.[12]

• The hospital is a major teaching affiliate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is a clinical training site for Columbia medical students. In addition, Columbia serves as the umbrella institution governing Stamford Hospital's residency programs of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Obstetrics/Gynecology and General Surgery.
• The hospital is the clinical teaching site for the Sacred Heart University Physician Assistant program [13]
• The hospital is certified by Planetree International, an organization that pioneered a focus on patient-centered care.
• Stamford Health's Bennett Cancer Center is part of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Care Collaborative.[14]

• List of hospitals in Connecticut

• Stamford Hospital Web page
• District 1199, SEIU, a union representing some employees at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2002-11-13)
• Connecticut Department of Public Health
• Hospital Performance Comparisons, a report released in February 2006 by the state Department of Health at the Wayback Machine (archived 2006-09-23)