Summa St. Thomas Hospital was a former orthopedic and psychiatric hospital located in
Akron, Ohio
Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...
. The hospital opened in 1928 and was originally operated by the
Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine as a non-denominational, non-profit general hospital. In 1989, St. Thomas Hospital merged with
Akron City Hospital to become
Summa Health System. The emergency room was closed in 2014, and the hospital was closed in 2023. Demolition of the site commenced June 17, 2024 and was completed by the end of calendar year 2024.
History
On August 16, 1935,
Sister Ignatia Gavin, a Catholic sister in charge of admissions at St. Thomas Hospital, with the help of
Dr. Bob Smith, one of the founders of
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led Mutual aid, mutual-aid fellowship focused on an abstinence-based recovery model from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's Twelve Traditions, besides emphasizing anon ...
, admitted the first alcoholic patient under the diagnosis of
acute gastritis. This event made St. Thomas Hospital the first hospital in the world to treat
alcoholism
Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
as a medical condition, and the first religious institution to recognize the rights of alcoholics to receive hospital treatment.
In 2010,
Summa Akron City Hospital
Summa Health Akron Campus, formerly known as Akron City Hospital, part of Summa Health System, was founded in 1892 in Akron, Ohio, United States as The City Hospital. From the first accredited radiology department in the country to the first adul ...
and St. Thomas Hospitals were awarded nursing's highest honor,
Magnet recognition, by
American Nurses Credentialing Center
The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association (ANA), is a certification body for nursing board certification and the largest certification body for advanced practice registered nurses in the Un ...
. Only six percent of hospitals in the United States are recognized as Magnet hospitals.
In 2014, St. Thomas hospital closed its emergency room and replaced it with a general practitioner, directing their emergency room patients to Akron City's recently opened 100 bed emergency room.
The Summa Health Behavioral Health Institute vacated the St. Thomas building and moved into the nearby 60 bed Juve Family Behavioral Health Pavilion on the Summa Health System–Akron Campus, which was completed in early 2023. Alcoholics Anonymous artifacts were preserved and moved.
Recognition and honors
* Was designated as a
Magnet
A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...
Hospital in 2010.
* Was ranked No. 1 in the Akron metro area for cancer, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, geriatrics, gynecology, orthopaedics, pulmonology and urology in 2010.
References
External links
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Defunct hospitals in Ohio