The MT. SINAI MEDICAL CENTER, a nonprofit, university-affiliated medical center dedicated to a broad program of care, teaching, and research, grew out of the work of the Young Ladies' Hebrew Assn. The association was founded for the purpose of providing "care for the needy and sick" in 1892. In 1902 the name was changed to the Jewish Women's Hospital Assn., and a private residence on E. 37th St. was purchased and converted into a 29-bed hospital. The need for larger, improved facilities led to the formation of the Jewish Hospital Assn. of Cleveland in 1912 and the opening in 1913 of the East Side Free Dispensary on E. 55th St. A board of trustees was elected, and later that year the name Mt. Sinai was adopted. Fundraising for a new building was authorized by the Jewish Welfare Federation (see the JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION), and in 1916 a new 160-bed hospital was completed on E. 105th overlooking WADE PARK. From the beginning, half of its patients were non-Jewish. In 1927 a $1.35 million expansion included a nurses' home for the Mt. Sinai School of NURSING, a research laboratory, and an out-patient dispensary.

During its first 3 decades, Mt. Sinai had only 2 presidents: Paul L. Feiss and Max Myers. The first director of medicine, Alfred S. Maschke, is credited with being the founder and developer of the hospital's Department of Medicine. Among Mt. Sinai's researchers were Dr. Benjamin S. Kline, who perfected a new slide test for disease and centered international attention on the hospital's laboratory and Drs. HARRY GOLDBLATT† and Erwin Haas who, while working in the 1960s at the hospital, became internationally known for their work in biochemistry. Mt. Sinai became a teaching hospital in 1947 when it affiliated with Western Reserve Univ. (later CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY) School of Medicine. In 1951 bed capacity was increased to 390 through expansion and renovation, which included the Katy Sanders Laboratory for experimental surgery. A 12-story building was added in 1960, increasing bed capacity to 524. Further expansion included a 10-bed kidney-dialysis center and construction of the Max Freedman Clinic for out-patient care. By 1967 Mt. Sinai, partly supported by funds from the United Appeal and the Jewish Welfare Fund, was one of the area's most heavily used hospitals by poor families.

In the 1970s Mt. Sinai continued to offer the basic services of medicine, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, and rehabilitation and specialized services including open-heart surgery, renal transplant and dialysis, neonatal intensive care, and an organ bank. The School of Nursing graduated its last class in 1970. Continued expansion included the opening of a new laboratory facility for patient care and research, and, in 1972, of an out-patient clinic in BEACHWOOD. In 1978 Mt. Sinai officials floated a plan to reduce and shift some of its services to the eastern SUBURBS. The plan was abandoned after criticism, led by city council president George Forbes, that the facility was abandoning its neighboring community of AFRICAN AMERICANS. With the aid of tax-exempt hospital revenue bonds, a $95 million wing was completed in the early 1980s. In 1993 Mt. Sinai opened a $50 million "Integrated Medical Campus" for ambulatory care at its Beachwood facility and, supported by Ronald McDonald Children's Charities of IL, planned to develop a Pediatric Primary Care Clinic. In 1995 Mt. Sinai Medical Center had 405 beds and 32 bassinets.

See also HOSPITALS & HEALTH PLANNING, MEDICINE, JEWS & JUDAISM.

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