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