Sinai Hospital

Sinai Hospital of Baltimore is proudly celebrating 150 years of providing excellent health care to all people.

In June of 1866, the cornerstone was laid for a small, 10-room hospital in downtown Baltimore. Since then, countless lives have been impacted by what is known today as Sinai Hospital.

Though much has changed in the last 150 years, our vision and mission have not. Every day, we provide compassionate, high-quality, cost-effective health care to all people, regardless of age, race, ethnicity or income. We strive to maintain and improve the health and well-being of our community and those who live in it. And as a teaching hospital, we continue to train the next generation of caregivers and medical leaders and propel the future of health with innovative clinical trials, critical research and life-saving medical breakthroughs.

Sinai Hospital wants to commemorate this anniversary with you, our community. Celebration plans include local events, collecting and sharing patient and employee stories, and giving back to the community that has given us so much and made Sinai Hospital what it is today.

We also invite you to take a walk through history in our video timeline, tracing key moments in Sinai Hospital history.

Thank you for letting us be a part of your family and your community. We look forward to the next 150 years!

Timeline

Watch a video of our 150-year history, from the placement of the cornerstone in 1866 to the medical innovations of 2016.

Trivia

Test your knowledge of Sinai Hospital’s 150-year history!

We’re giving you some hints. You can find the answers on this website as well as in the “Sinai Pride” displays, located behind the hospital’s cafeteria near the tray return.

Click here to view the questions.

Thank you for celebrating Sinai’s 150th anniversary!

Sinai Pride – Our Hospital Museum

Did you know that there’s a mini-museum inside Sinai Hospital?
The “Sinai Pride” displays, located behind the hospital’s cafeteria near the tray return, showcase everything from medical instruments and hospital china to a 1926 letter from the State Tax Commission when the Hebrew Hospital and Asylum’s name was officially changed to Sinai Hospital.

The exhibit was put together by Samuel Abrams, M.D., a general surgeon who served Sinai from his residency in 1953 until his retirement in 1997, and Paul Umansky, Sinai’s director of public relations from 1976 to 1997. Many people probably walk right by and never stop to take a look!

Here are some of the highlights of this amazing collection:

• One really neat medical instrument found in the Sinai Pride displays is a cystoscope from 1930. Cystoscopes were and are used for the removal of kidney stones. The plaque with the cystoscope states that the instrument, used at Sinai, was inserted “into the bladder or ureter to crush kidney stones. A physician located the stones through the eyepiece; water was then inserted to help flush the stones from the bladder.”
• From 1910, there is a wooden portable medicine cabinet. Held in a small box, there are glass vials for physicians to easily move and dispense small doses of medications.
• Check out the original program and photos from the September 20 dedication when the current campus opened in 1959.
• On the wall to the left of the displays, there is a large plaque. Do you know what it is for? It honors Thomas Kennedy, a Hagerstown man who advocated for civil and religious liberty in early 19th century Maryland (See if you can spot the Kennedy memorial at the beginning of the vintage 1950s newsreel we discovered and posted on the Sinai 150 anniversary website).
• Be sure to look at all the historical photos in the displays! There are pictures of old buildings, aerial views of the hospital, and doctors and nurses from back in the day!
• Did you know that stethoscopes were wooden in the 1800s? Be sure to look at the one we have on display!
• Did you know that the Hoffberger Urology Research Laboratory was built in 1939 and helped to make urology one of Sinai’s major specialties?
• Sinai Hospital even has some presidential connections. In one display, you can see photos of Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

What do you think is the most interesting thing in the Sinai Pride exhibit? Let us know by email.

Share Your Story

To commemorate our 150th anniversary, we are asking our patients and families, our neighbors and our employees to share how the care, treatment and community service delivered by Sinai’s dedicated staff have changed your lives. We would also like to know what the hospital has meant to you, over the years and today.

Perhaps you were born here, or your children or grandchildren were. Maybe you or someone you love received life-saving care here. Or maybe you provided that life-saving care as a physician, nurse or other staff member.

No story is too small! If Sinai Hospital of Baltimore has been a part of your family — either historically or recently — we want to hear from you. Please use the form below or email your remembrances, pictures and contact information to sinai150@lifebridgehealth.org.

Thank you for contacting LifeBridge Health. We will make every effort to answer your email in a timely manner. Please know that this form is only checked during business hours Monday - Friday. Please do not use this form if you have an issue of an emergent nature.

Click here to read some stories we have received.

Slideshow

Events

Sinai Hospital is planning several community events to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

June 24, 2016 - Celebration of Sinai 150th anniversary in hospital cafeteria
Trivia contest begins

June 25, 2016 - Anniversary date of when original building cornerstone was laid: June 25, 1866

August 31, 2016 - Last day to enter Sinai 150 trivia contest

October 23, 2016: Medical Symposium

October 30, 2016: Playground Build, Community event

On Sunday, October 30th, approximately 200 volunteers from the Park Heights community, including Sinai Hospital employees, came together to build a playground in just six hours!

Sinai Hospital embarked on this playground project to commemorate the hospital’s 150th anniversary, wanting to share the celebration with people in the community.

Take a look at some of the event highlights, or the time lapse playground build slideshow.

Historic Newsreel

Watch historic newrseel footage of Sinai Hospital from the 1950s! See clinical labs, X-ray machines, outpatient and dental clinics, operating rooms, the baby nursery, and Sinai doctors, nurses and patients from more than 60 years ago.