National Jewish History and Mission
History of National Jewish
The original hospital for National Jewish was completed in 1893 and was to be named the Frances Wisebart Jacobs Hospital after its founder. However, because of a silver crisis and depression, there were no operating funds for the hospital and it sat vacant for six years until B'nai B'rith, a national Jewish organization, decided to raise the required operating funds on an annual basis. Since most of the funds were to come from outside Colorado, the name of the hospital was changed to National Jewish Hospital for treatment of consumptives. B'nai B'rith continued to support the hospital until the early 1950's.
Today, National Jewish has no formal ties to any religious or quasi-religious institution and receives no annual funding from B'nai B'rith or any similar organizations. From its inception, National Jewish has been a non-sectarian institution. As emphasized at the ground-breaking for the hospital on October 9, 1892, it was noted that "…As pain knows no creed, so is this building the prototype of the grand idea of Judaism, which casts aside no stranger no matter of what race or blood. We consecrate this structure to humanity, to our suffering fellowman, regardless of creed." In fact, the very first patient at National Jewish, who entered the hospital on December 11, 1899, was a young non-Jewish woman with tuberculosis from Minneapolis. Periodically, we receive questions as to whether one has to be Jewish to be a patient at National Jewish. Of course, the answer is no.
National Jewish Mission Statement
Our Mission since 1899 is to heal, to discover, and to educate as a preeminent healthcare institution.
We serve by providing the best integrated and innovative care for patients and their families; by understanding and finding cures for the diseases we research; and by educating and training the next generation of healthcare professionals to be leaders in medicine and science.
National Jewish Vision Statement
Our vision is to be the global leader in the research and treatment of respiratory, immune, and related diseases.
We pursue this vision by pioneering individualized medicine programs which embrace the paradigm shift from reactive medicine to proactive, personalized healthcare. These programs enable us to integrate the provision of outstanding patient care, the conduct of novel basic, translational, and clinical research, and the education of healthcare and research professionals. Through our efforts, we seek to achieve cures for patients who seek treatment and to bring new knowledge and discoveries to help people worldwide.
2007 Annual Report:
Personalized Medicine -- Science Transforming LifeTM
At National Jewish we realize that we must prove ourselves again and again, every day, with every patient. That philosophy has helped make us the best respiratory hospital in the nation for ten consecutive years, according to US News & World Report . We also realize we must constantly innovate to look for better ways to care for our patients and to make new discoveries. Learn more about our focus on Personalized Medicine in the 2007 Annual Report.
Read the 2007 Annual Report (pdf - 5mb).
