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Wishard Memorial Hospital. Indianapolis’ oldest hospital. For most of its history,
Wishard Hospital’s primary purpose has been to provide health care for the indigent. The
idea of establishing a city-run hospital dates to the 1830’s when Livingston Dunlap, a
prominent local physician stressed the need for a permanent place to care for the sick,
especially smallpox and cholera victims. Not until 1854, however, did the construction of
a hospital building begin, and when the facility was completed three years later the city
decided that a hospital was no longer necessary and debated its future. With the outbreak
of the Civil War, the city transferred the building to the federal government for use as a
hospital for sick and wounded troops. At the war’s end, the federal government gave the
hospital building back to the city. In August, 1866, the city opened the Indianapolis City
Hospital as a 75-bed charity hospital. As with all municipal hospitals, political problems,
under-funding, and overcrowding plagued the institution almost from its inception.
During the late 19th century, the basic character of hospitals changed. Initially
viewed as places of last resort for the unwanted of society, they became institutions
offering advanced diagnosis and specialty services. At City Hospital, many
improvements occurred under the administration of William Niles Wishard, Sr. (18791886). Wishard obtained money to build additional ward space, established antiseptic
procedures, and introduced a trained nursing staff. Various medical schools used City
Hospital for teaching purposes. By the end of the century, the hospital began offering
specialty services such as obstetrics-gynecology, ophthalmology, gastroenterology,
neurology, and urology. Despite these improvements, the hospital remained over
crowded and lacked adequate space for tuberculosis patients. Not until 1917, when
Sunnyside Sanitarium opened, did the hospital have proper facilities to care for those
suffering from tuberculosis.
City Hospital’s constant overcrowding was a result of both chronic under funding
and its duty to care for a disproportionate share of the city’s sick poor and all of the city’s
African-American population. In the 1920’s and 1930’s it was the only hospital in the
city to care for blacks (both poor and pay patients). Because the hospital lacked proper
funding and because of prevailing prejudices, the care of blacks at the institution was
often inferior.
Despite the problems, City Hospital witnessed a number of improvements during
the 1920’s, including the relocation of the City Dispensary to the hospital, which gave the
institution an outpatient department. The hospital also constructed a new surgery unit. In
1929, the hospital received a $50,000 anonymous donation to establish a clinical research
laboratory. The laboratory was run by Eli Lilly and Company and continues in operation
today.
The Most significant improvements in the hospital’s history occurred during the
administration of Dr. Charles W. Myers, who served as superintendent from 1931 to
1951. (After his retirement as superintendent, he served on the board of directors until
1968.) Myers was instrumental in securing the appointment of blacks to the hospital staff
and the opening of the new wards for black patients in 1939. He was also responsible for
the purchase of the first iron lung (for use by polio victims), the opening of the first
municipal cancer clinic, improved care for tuberculosis patients through the construction
of a 100-bed Flower Mission Hospital in 1936, new facilities for psychiatric patients, and
the opening of the Krannert Institute of Cardiology in 1963. But increasing costs
associated with modern medicine meant that the hospital could no longer rely exclusively
on tax money for improvements. From the 1930’s onward, the institution looked to
philanthropy to fund a number of major improvements.
From 1905 to the lat 1940’s, the Board of Health and Charities governed the
hospital. In 1945 and 1947 laws were passed to create the Department of Health and
Hospitals. In 1951 Myers was instrumental in creating the Health and Hospital
Corporation, th current governing body, to remove the hospital from politics. In 1947
Myers changed the name of the hospital from the Indianapolis City Hospital to
Indianapolis General Hospital. In 1959, the name changed to Marion County General
Hospital to reflect the broader base of population served by the institution.
Despite the improvements introduced by Myers, his tenure was not without
problems. After the construction of new patient wards in 1939, Myers was unable to gain
approval for any more construction projects until 1962. Moreover, World War II took its
toll on the hospital; approximately 50 percent of the active staff was called for military
duty. Conditions became so gad that in 1956 the Indianapolis Medical Society appointed
a citizens’ committee to investigate the situation. They concluded that the nursing board,
the executive director, and the superintendent failed to communicate with each other; and
the hospital lacked adequate equipment and supplies and suffered from insufficient
funding and undue political influence.
Not until the 1960’s were major changes undertaken to rectify the hospital’s
problems. Sunnyside Sanitarium and General Hospital merged in 1961 and the next year
the hospital undertook a $16 Million expansion. In 16, the hospital entered into a formal
agreement with Indian University allowing faculty of the school to share joint
appointments and Indiana University and at General Hospital.
By the 1970’s, the hospital had 726 beds and numerous outpatient clinics. In an
attempt to offer better services and consolidate its efforts, the hospital opened in 1975 the
new Regenstrief Clinic, which had been substantially funded by the donations of Eli Lilly
and Company and the Regenstrief family. Emphasis during these years was on improved
service. Psychiatric care was offered both on the wards and at the Midtown Community
Mental Health Center.
Delivery of services, however, was hindered by an image problem. Because the
hospital was viewed exclusively as a charity hospital, its care was believed to be inferior
and it thus had trouble attracting pay patients. To overcome this problem, the hospital in
1975 changed its name to Wishard memorial Hospital and allowed Indian University to
manage the facility. Although the hospital remained a separate legal entity, it became a
functional component of the Indian University School of Medicine. The hospital also
established a burn Unit (1977) and became known for its treatment of trauma cases.
In the 1980’s, skyrocketing medical costs and the hospital’s obligation to care for
the county’s indigent and uninsured patients placed sever financial strains on Wishard. In
1988, a report commissioned by the hospital board (known as the Pettinga report) noted
that the hospital seek more compensation form city and state governments to fulfill its
original mission.
Lack of sufficient outpatient clinics to serve the community, an image problem
high black infant mortality, overcrowding, and the lack of funding remained problems in
the 1990’s. Still, Wishard Memorial Hospital is the county’s largest provider of health
care services to the indigent and is well known for its treatment of trauma and burn
patients.
The fiscal affairs of the hospital have improved with the increase of support from
federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, as well as private insurance coverage.
Tax support of the hospital represents less than 25 percent of its total budget. Many citycounty hospitals have close but Wishard continues as a success story.
Katherine Mandusic McDonell