A History of Caring

On December 4, 1898, the Philadelphia Times reported the hospital opening as “perhaps the most important event of the week in Atlantic City.” It described the dedicated members of the board of governors and the Women’s Auxiliary as being “untiring in their efforts to provide the city with an institution of which it need not be ashamed.” The first resident physician, Clyde M. Fish, MD, of Jefferson Medical College, started work on December 15, 1898. His first hospital patient was 11-year-old Gussie Johan, who had broken his leg falling off a horse-drawn wagon after a goat butted the horse. Gussie recovered and went on to live a long life, dying at the age of 99 in February 1987.

With Mrs. Mary W. Kimmell at the helm as superintendent of the modest hospital, Atlantic City finally had a dedicated public health facility, and the community embraced its new healthcare services, using the hospital for births, emergency care and serious illness. The board’s Second Annual Report mirrored the community’s enthusiasm: “The board feels that in all respects the hospital has met the expectations of its promoters. It is carefully and economically managed, and is proving itself worthy of the encouragement and support of every friend of humanity.”