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Charity Hospital
1532 Tulane Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70112
Charity Hospital was
founded in 1732 when
Jean Louis, a French
seaman and merchant
who made New Orleans
his home in the New World,
died, leaving his entire
estate to "establish and
maintain a hospital for the
poor people of New Orleans"
By the time the Civil
War began in 1860,
Charity was one of the
largest hospitals in the
world, able to accom-
modate 1 ,000 patients
at a time. Durring the
Civil War, the hospital
provided medical care for
soldiers from both armies.
In 1873, a local
newspaper described
Charity Hospital: "No
question of race,
nationality, religion,
sex or character hinders
a single applicant for
repose and healing...
the best medical talent
in the city is placed at the
disposition of the poorest
and meanest of its
citizens."
Charity Hospital has been
at its present location for
so long, that today New
Orleanians often think it
has always been there
and has always been the
same. But, in fact, the
hospital has been located
in six different main
buildings in four different
locations during 260+ years.
By the early 1930s, the old
facility was crowded and out
of date. Louisiana's populist
Governor Huey P. Long
made it a priority of his
administration to build a
fine, new hospital facility
that would equal or better
any other in the country.
When the present building
on Tulane Avenue was
completed in 1939, the total
bed capacity was 3,330,
making Charity the second
largest hospital in the US.
It is also one of only a
handful that serves the
education and research
needs of two medical
schools:Tulane University
Medical Center & Louisiana
State University Health
Sciences Center.
University Hospital
2021 Perdido Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
University Hospital (Hotel Dieu)
opened its doors in 1859, more than
a century after the founding of
Charity. Hotel Dieu is French for
"House of God" The hospital was
founded, owned and operated by
the Daughters of Charity, an
American order of nuns founded by
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton and
affiliated with the Daughters of
Charity in France. This hospital
stayed open during the Civil War,
the only private hospital in New
Orleans to do so.
The present building fronting on
Perdido Street was completed in
1972. It replaced a building finished
in 1924, which, in turn, replaced the
original Hotel Dieu.
During the hospital's long history,
it saw New Orleans through two
major yellow fever epidemics (1853
and 1897). It was the first hospital
in the nation to air-condition its
surgical suites (1913), and it was
the site of milestone medical
research that developed
sulfonamide drug treatment for
meningitis (the 1940s).
At the end of 1992, the Daughters of
Charity sold Hotel Dieu to the state
and the hospital was re-named
"University Hospital". After
Hurricane Katrina, Charity Hospital
closed and University Hospital was
updated, becoming the main
campus of LSUHSC. Univerisity
Hospital was then renamed
"LSU Interim Hospital".
LSU Interim Hospital/University Hospital
LSU Interim Hospital/University Hospital is the main teaching facility of the LSU Emergency Medicine Residency Program. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the Medical Center of Louisiana encompassed two major teaching hospitals - Charity Hospital and University Hospital - within New Orlean's downtown core. The main teaching site, Charity Hospital, was established in 1736, forty years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The hospital has been reconstructed six times since 1736, with the current facility completed in 1939, but unfortunately has been closed since Katrina. Built by then governor Huey P. Long, upon completion the twenty-story behemoth housed the largest medical facility in the world, with over 1450 beds.
In 1991, Hotel Dieu, a private hospital, was purchased by the state to expand the facilities of Charity in New Orleans. The facility was renamed University Hospital. Located four blocks west of Charity, University Hospital used to house the majority of the medicine ward patients, obstetrics and pediatric patients.
After Hurricane Katrina, an expanded and renovated University Hospital was reopened and renamed the LSU Interim Hospital, with a potential capacity of 400-plus inpatient beds and over 50 ED beds.
As of August 2008, the new Emergency Department consists of 29 major trauma/medical beds - 4 of which are full resuscitation beds, 8 Fast Track beds and 10 observation unit beds and 20 emergency psychiatric beds. The ED sees approximately 60,000 patients per year, with that number expected to continue to increase as the city rebuilds and further hospital servic
es come on line.
All major consult services are represented at University Hospital, except for ENT. Both Tulane and LSU residents and medical students rotate through the LSU Interim /University Hospital.
In addition to ED rotations the EM residents rotate through Trauma ICU and MICU at LSU Interim Hospital/University Hospital.
Plans for new hospital
Other Participating Hospitals
Ochsner Clinic Foundation
Slidell Memorial Hospital
West Jefferson Medical Center
Chabert Medical Center
Our Lady of the Lake
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Last Update: 7/20/2009