Sutter Hospitals

The United States War Departmentintervened in Sacramento medical services during World War I, paying to establish an Isolation Hospital in 1918 to care for venereal disease cases. Operational costs were at city expense, however,andtheywerehigh enough to leadtoitsclosure,in 1919, in spite ofpersuasive arguments in favor ofkeepingitopen, as an importantfactor in controllingvenereal diseases.49

Duringthedisastrousinfluenzaepidemicthatsweptthe country attheendofthe war, ahospital was organizedin the city library and so-called “party girls” were gratefully accepted to do volunteer nursing.50

Sutter General Hospital, 28th and L, 1923.

This epidemic of 1918-19 pointed up the need for more hospital beds in Sacramento. Seventeen physiciansincorporated the Sutter Hospital Association in September 1921, withaboardofdirectorsconsistingofDrs. GeorgeA. Spencer, WABeattie,GeorgeA. Briggs,E.T.Rulison,andJ.W.James. The Sutter Hospital, with 160 beds, was erected, in 1922, at 28th and L Streets, across from Sutter’s Fort, at a cost of $850,000.

Thenew SutterHospitalofferedspacious privaterooms with dark paneledwalls andflowered drapes. A solarium on everyfloorallowedpatientstoconvalesce insunshine. Rates were reasonable: $4perdayfora ward, $6 forasemi-private room, and$8foraprivateroom. One elderlygentlemanlived on the fifth floor for seven years! Sadly, implementation of publichealthpoliciesandthediscoveryofantibioticscametoo lateforthefounder,Dr.J.W.James, who diedoftyphoidfever and a streptococcal septicemia soon after the opening. In 1935, Sutter Hospital became a non-profit corporation and was renamed Sutter General Hospital.

Aprepaid medical plan for employeeswas instituted in 1932. For one dollar per month, members received free hospital care and free choice ofdoctor. This plan eventually

Sutter Memorial Hospital, 52nd and F, began as Sutter Maternity Hospital.

became the Superior California Hospital Association, which included Mercy and hospitals in outlying areas. Although many women still delivered theirbabies at home,itwasbecomingmorecommontousehospitalfacilities, and Sutter's maternity service became active. In 1937, the new52-bedSutterMaternityCenterHospitalopenedat52nd and F Streets. This maternity hospital, a separate unit for mothers and babies, was the first such center in California and only the second westoftheMississippi River. It was the firstfullyair-conditionedhospitalinthestateandthethirdin the nation. The SutterMaternity Hospital satellitehas now been modernized and enlarged, becomingthe 378-bed Sutter Memorial Hospital.

By 1986, Sutter Community Hospitals came to include SutterDavisHospital,SutterSurgeryCenterinSacramento, andCordovaHealthCenter(renamedSutterImmediateCare Center,andnowcalledSutterCommunityClinic). Expansion continued with the addition ofa Diagnostic and Treatment Center, aChild Guidance Clinic, a psychiatricunitforadults and children, SutterCounseling Center, andaKidneyDialysis Center.

Sutter Hospital, 28th and L, 1989, across the street from the original hospital site.

In 1987, a more modem Sutter General Hospital was completed across the streetfrom the original facility at28th and L, at a cost of$73 million. Itwas also across the street from Sutter’s Fortand special carehad to be takenwhen the earthquake-prooffoundation waslaidso asnottobringdown the adobe and brick walls ofthe historic fort. Also, special buildingtechniques were developed to contendwiththe high groundwater level. Was this possibly due to thefresh-water well described inthe 1849 advertisementfortheCragan and AbelladobehospitalontheeastsideofSutter’sFort? Astatue ofCaptainJohn Sutterwas placedin the garden on the west side of the hospital, facing Sutter’s Fort. The five-story building covers a city block, has a full basement, an 80-car parkinggarage, 299 acute-carebeds, and 114 private rooms. The originalhospital was demolished and a hospital administrative centerwas built inits place, connected to the new hospitalby an aerial walkway across L Street.

By 1993theSutterHealthsystemincludedSutterCommunity Hospitals of Sacramento (Sutter General, Sutter MemorialandSutterCenterforPsychiatry),NovatoCommunityHospitalinMarinCounty,SutterSolanoMedicalCenter inVallejo,andSutterCoastHospitalin CrescentCity, Sutter Davis Hospital, Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport, Auburn Faith Community Hospital, Amador Hospital in Jackson, Delta Memorial Hospital in Antioch and Kahi Mohala Psychiatric Hospital in Honolulu. That year the Sutter system was in negotiations to acquire Roseville Community Hospital and Tracy Community Memorial Hospital.