San Juan de Dios Hospital was a hospital located in

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

, Ecuador. It was the first hospital founded in the city and was open from 1565 to 1974. It has been designated a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Cultural

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. Since 1998, the building which housed the hospital has served as the City Museum of Quito and maintains a small permanent collection relating to the history of the hospital.

History

In 1565,

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

ordered the construction of the hospital, 31 years after the founding of Quito. The king specifically ordered that people who lived around the hospital, whether born in Ecuador or in Spain were to be treated, but specifically the army which protected his colony was to receive service from the hospital. The original name, The Holy Mercy Hospital of Our Lord Jesus Christ was run by the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

of the Brotherhood of Charity and Mercy from its founding until 1705. In 1693, the Dominicans created the medical chair of San Juan de Dios to study how to combine scientific methods developed in Europe with traditional medical practices of indigenous Ecuadorians. In 1706 the administration of the hospital passed to the

Bethlehem Brothers The Bethlehemite Brothers are a religious institute founded in Guatemala in 1653 and restored in 1984. Their official name is Order of Bethlehemite Brothers (''Ordo Fratrum Bethlemitarum: O.F.B.''), or Bethlehem Brothers (''Hermanos de Belén''), ...

, who continued the research of the Dominicans. Two of the pioneering researchers at the hospital were Luis Chusig and Pedro Leiva. Chusig, an indigenous Ecuadorian who had to change his name to

Eugenio Espejo Francisco Javier Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo (Royal Audiencia of Quito, February 21, 1747 – December 28, 1795) was a medical pioneer, writer and lawyer of mestizo origin in colonial Ecuador. Although he was a notable scientist and write ...

to study medicine, discovered that many diseases were caused by

microorganisms A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

long before

Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named after ...

's discoveries. Doctor Pedro Leiva revealed that the cure for malaria was contained in the bark of the

cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...

tree. The Bethlehem Brothers ran the hospital until 1830, whereafter the administration was assumed by the state. The Ecuadorian government with support of 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 ...

managed the hospital until its closure. The hospital also operated as a

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...

, maternity clinic, and pediatric center, also nursing people with

sexually transmitted infections Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral se ...

and skin diseases. Patients were attended by "

herbalists Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...

shamans Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

healers Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alte ...

doctors Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

barbers A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

, blood letters, Sisters of Charity,

nurses Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ca ...

, technologists,

social workers Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

and

friars A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the o ...

". The hospital ran a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...

which was located in the oldest civil building in Quito. San Juan de Dios Hospital closed its doors in 1974 after 409 years of continuous service. The buildings, which had been designated as a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site became the City Museum in 1998. The Museum houses as part of its permanent collections the historical records of the hospital.

References

External links

City Museum (Quito)

Photo gallery

Historic Center of Quito - World Heritage Site by UNESCO - Photo 312.JPG, City Museum formerly San Juan de Dios Hospital Historic Center of Quito - World Heritage Site by UNESCO - Photo 297.JPG, City Museum formerly San Juan de Dios Hospital Historic Center of Quito - World Heritage Site by UNESCO - Photo 290.JPG, City Museum formerly San Juan de Dios Hospital {{Use dmy dates, date=October 2017 Hospitals in Ecuador World Heritage Sites in Ecuador Museums in Ecuador Catholic hospitals in South America Former Catholic hospitals Defunct hospitals Hospitals disestablished in 1974 Hospitals established in the 16th century 1565 establishments in the Viceroyalty of Peru 1974 disestablishments in Ecuador