Mt. San Rafael Hospital is a general hospital in

Trinidad, Colorado Trinidad is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. The population was 8,329 as of the 2020 census. Trinidad lies north of Raton, New Mexico, and s ...

. Founded in 1889, the hospital is a level IV trauma center. It is notable for being a pioneer in sex-change operations, with the hospital's first of thousands of such surgeries being completed there in 1969.

History

The hospital was originally established in 1889 by the

Sisters of Charity Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity in their name. Some ''Sisters of Charity'' communities refer to the Vincentian tradition, or in America to the tradition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, but others are unrelated. The ...

. Renovations and additions were completed in 1906 and 1959. In 1969, the hospital was secularized and bought by the Trinidad Area Health Association, an organization that continues to own and run the facility. A completely new hospital building was constructed and opened in 1972 and continues to serve as Mt. San Rafael's main building today. In January 1914, the hospital was used by General John Chase of the

Colorado National Guard The Colorado National Guard consists of the Colorado Army National Guard and Colorado Air National Guard, forming the state of Colorado's component to the United States National Guard. Founded in 1860, the Colorado National Guard falls under t ...

to hold labor activist

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

during the 1913-1914

Colorado Coalfield War The Colorado Coalfield War was a major labor uprising in the Southern and Central Colorado Front Range between September 1913 and December 1914. Striking began in late summer 1913, organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) agai ...

. Following the Ludlow Massacre, armed strikers took control of Trinidad and the hospital.

Sex-change operations

The hospital's sex-change surgery service led to Trinidad being named the "sex-change capital of the world." Resident surgeon Dr.

Stanley Biber Stanley H. Biber (May 4, 1923 – January 16, 2006) was an American physician who was a pioneer in sex reassignment surgery, performing thousands of procedures during his long career.Fox, Margalit (21 January 2006)Stanley H. Biber, 82, Surgeon Am ...

performed the hospital's first sex-change operation in 1969, and thousands of additional sex-change operations were performed there until Biber's successor left following a dispute in 2010.

References

External links

Hospital website
1889 establishments in Colorado Buildings and structures in Las Animas County, Colorado Hospitals established in 1889 Hospitals in Colorado LGBT in Colorado Transgender history {{Colorado-hospital-stub