Jewish Hospital, 1916, with the first nurses' home on the left and the 1890 building on the right

America's First Jewish Hospital

In 1850, Cincinnati opened the nation's first Jewish hospital. The reason given publicly for the hospital's opening was to care for poor Jews who were otherwise closed out of hospitals from fears that they could not pay. However, Cincinnati's 1849 cholera epidemic presented additional reasons for a Jewish hospital: to ensure that a rabbi could be present at the time of a patient's death, and to prevent deathbed conversions which had occurred during the epidemic. The fundraising efforts for the new hospital were led by Joseph Alexander, Hyman Moses, and M.E. Moehring. They initially rented a building downtown, ran the hospital at a deficit, and relied on continuing contributions. In 1854, a bequest from philanthropist Judah Touro enabled Jewish Hospital to buy property and begin operating at their own expense. Having moved several times since opening in 1850, Jewish Hospital is now in the Cincinnati suburbs. It is listed as one of the nation's top 100 teaching hospitals, and it has regionally and nationally renowned programs in many different areas of health and patient care.