Does John Hopkins Medical Center Explain How Long It Has Held These Cultural Values or How They Were Formed?

John Hopkins Hospital was founded by John Hopkins a philanthropist and a Quaker by faith in 1867 and endowed in 1873. He dedicated his life and finances approximately $7,000,000 in cash to building a teaching hospital and a university named after him with designations of uniting functions of patient care with education and research. The John Hopkins hospital was officially opened on May 7, 1889

Before Mr. Hopkins died in 1973, he had committed himself to the principle of “united we stand and divided we fall” and selected board of trustees for the hospital and the university whom he entrusted with tasks and responsibilities to carry out his vision.

Johns Hopkins, a famous Baltimore businessman, left his fortune of $7 million to establish both the Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins Hospital. His Quaker upbringing helped him to develop a sense of charity and equity. Mr. Hopkins was not able to receive the education he longed for, so he wanted to provide a university for others. Witnessing the epidemics that ravaged Baltimore caused him to realize the need for a hospital. His business ability earned him the funds he needed to provide education and health care to citizens of Baltimore and the world. As part of his bequest, Johns Hopkins stipulated that a school of medicine accompany the hospital. As such, the School of Medicine was opened in 1893, 17 years after the founding of the university. The delay resulted in part from the trustees' wish to have a fully equipped hospital before students were accepted. The Johns Hopkins Hospital was completed in 1889, and from the outset its destiny has been inextricably woven with that of the School of Medicine

This policy was established in a letter from Mr. Hopkins to the first trustees of the hospital. "In all your arrangements in relation to this hospital," he wrote, "you will bear constantly in mind that it is my wish and purpose that the institution shall ultimately form a part of the Medical School of that university for which I have made ample provision by my will." Today, the hospital complex is a collection of more than a dozen "mini-hospitals" and centers, 37 buildings, 226 separate clinical services and more than 1,000 beds sprawling over half of the 44 acres housing the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in East Baltimore. A new 420,000 square-foot Outpatient Center opened in May 1992, to consolidate and enhance outpatient treatment facilities. In 1999, a new Comprehensive Cancer and Research Center opened that consolidated cancer-related clinical and research facilities into two new buildings. The best patient treatment and family support facilities combined with ultramodern laboratories provide the ideal cancer research and treatment center for the 21st century.

Health fairs and health screenings are the community outreach services provided by the hospital. CT scanner, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, single photon emission, multislice spiral CT and diagnostic radioisotope services are on the other hand the five diagnostic and therapeutic imaging services available at the hospital (American Hospital Association (2011). Regarding ranking of John Hopkins hospital either as a whole or its various specialties, 16 adult and 10 pediatric specialties of the hospital were amongst the 4285 hospitals that were ranked nationally for the year 2011-12.Five of its adult specialties were rated number one nationally that is, the urology, rheumatology, psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery specialties. The pediatric specialties of cancer, urology and pulmonology were rated at number 9 nationally. The hospital is also rated as the best hospital in Baltimore and has had a consistent number one rating for the best hospital in the US for 20 consecutive years. The latter ratings are done by US news and world report. The hospital is recognized nationally and internationally for its specialty services in urology, ear nose and throat, gynaecology, heart and heart surgery, cancer, diabetes and endocrine disorders (John Hopkins Medicine (2011). The hospital is affiliated with the following four institutions the John Hopkins Bayview Medical center, Howard County General Hospital, John Hopkins Children’s center and Wilmer Eye Institute. It also has 4 community-based health care centers which double up as surgery centers, 25 primary health care centers across Maryland, both managed care and home care services

In addition it has 14 affiliate instituitions abroad. All the aforementioned institutions comprise the greater John Hopkins Health system. The John Hopkins Health System together with John Hopkins University school of Medicine are what constitute the medical enterprise known as John Hopkins Medicine. As far as medical staff are concerned, the hospital boasts 2,184 registered and 25 licensed practical full time nurses, 494 registered and 7 licensed practical nurses. The hospital’s more than 200 specialty doctors are employees of the John Hopkins University of Medicine. The hospital is managed by a board of trustees who are elected. The hospital is funded by the federal government especially for its research activities. In addition, it utilizes the trust left by its founder John Hopkins who at the time of his death left $7 million for the establishment of the hospital. Other sources of funds include payments made by patients and clients for services provided and donations and grants by well wishers. Regarding the hospital’s strategic objectives, the hospital is currently undertaking an ambitious large scale redevelopment of its East Baltimore facilities and plans to open the new facilities in 2012. The new facilities have been dubbed the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s center Tower and Sheikh Zayed Tower. They will have 560 private and 33 new operating rooms and a vast emergency department.

Summing up, much of the care that I provide as a first responder and volunteer is extremely effective and also relatively cheap

More money is always helpful when facing a complex social and political problem, but we must think of solutions above and beyond more money and more taxes. In ten years I want to be a key player in the health care debate in this country and offering innovative solutions to delivering high quality and cost-effective health care to all our nation’s citizens, especially to those in rural and otherwise underserved areas.

American Hospital Association (2011). John Hopkins Hospital Details. Retrieved from
http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/johns-hopkins-hospital-6320180/details

John Hopkins Medicine (2011). The John Hopkins Hospital. Retrieved from http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/the_johns_hopkins_hospital/jhhhs.html.