 |
| |
In 2007, RUSH Oak Park Hospital celebrates 100 years of serving the community — which speaks volumes for our dedication to providing quality care. With a century behind us, filled with advances we could only have imagined, there’s fresh energy and opportunity to accomplish even more in the future. Make a wish and celebrate with us!
The journey began with John W. Tope, MD, a Civil War veteran from New Philadelphia, Ohio. Tope moved to Oak Park in 1890 to practice medicine. He was the driving force behind the establishment of Oak Park Hospital.
If Tope was the heart of the hospital, the Sisters of Misericorde were its soul. Working in conjunction with the sisters, Tope purchased land for the hospital in 1905. In 1906, ground was broken for the new hospital. The original 137-bed hospital was completed in 1907 at a cost of $140,000 and incorporated by the state as the Oak Park Hospital and Training School for Nurses of the Sisters of Misericorde.
Although the first patient (Dr. Tope himself) was treated in March of 1907, the hospital wasn’t formally dedicated until April 4, 1907 by Bishop Peter Muldoon. Three generations of Tope’s served on the medical staff.
The Sisters of Misericorde ran the hospital until 1986 when ownership was transferred to Wheaton Franciscan Services.
In 1993, the hospital entered into a joint venture with Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center (now RUSH University Medical Center) to strengthen and enhance the quality and depth of services offered to the community.
The original hospital boasted of it state-of-the art operating rooms flooded with natural light. Dr. Tope would undoubtedly be as amazed by today’s OR suites with state-of-the-art orthopedic navigational systems as he would be by the exponential leaps medicine has made since 1907. And he would undoubted be proud – and maybe a little amused – that the hospital he founded is now associated with Rush Medical College from which he and his son graduated.
