Historic hospital merger marks 20th anniversary
Mount Sinai founders’ plaque restored
By Cindy Mindell

HARTFORD – Twenty years ago, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital, both in Hartford, entered into an historic affiliation, the first recorded instance of collaboration between a Catholic hospital and a Jewish-sponsored hospital.

On April 14, the Medical Center marked the anniversary by unveiling a newly restored plaque that once hung in the original Mount Sinai Hospital building on Capitol Avenue in Hartford.
The cast-bronze plaque was recently discovered in a basement crawl-space in a building on the Blue Hills Avenue campus that housed Mount Sinai Hospital from 1950.
The 40-inch-by-60-inch, 300-pound piece bears the names of Hartford’s Jewish leaders who founded the hospital in 1922. At the time, the 39-bed facility occupied the former Morgan Brainard mansion.
“This is a marvelous restoration of an historic artifact from the time that Mount Sinai was founded,” says Robert B. Bruner, president of the Mount Sinai Foundation. “It is a vivid reminder of the members of the Jewish community who saw a need for an additional hospital to meet the growing needs of Hartford in the 1920s.”
Saint Francis Hospital was founded in 1897 and is the largest Catholic hospital in New England, as well as a major teaching hospital.
For five years after the 1990 agreement, the two hospitals maintained separate licenses and medical staffs, but shared common management and certain services. In 1995, Saint Francis and Mount Sinai entered into a formal corporate merger, establishing the Saint Francis Care system with separate campuses on Woodland Street and Blue Hills Avenue.
“Throughout its history, the Mount Sinai name has stood for innovation and progressive care,” says Christopher M. Dadlez, president and CEO of Saint Francis Hospital. “We are proud to carry on that tradition today through the Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital, located within the footprint of the former Mount Sinai Hospital, and Connecticut’s only free-standing acute medical rehabilitation facility.”
“Much has been achieved over the past 20 years through the Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center-Mount Sinai Hospital affiliation and subsequent merger,” says Edward S. Johnson, D.D.S., senior vice president of North Campus. “The legacy of that historic amalgamation will continue in the years ahead as we serve the healthcare needs of our community with vital services at both campus locations.”

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