Flint-Goodrich Hospital
*The Flint-Goodridge Hospital is celebrated on this date in 1896. For almost a century, this hospital served predominantly Black patients and was owned and operated by Dillard University for most of these years.
The hospital's history can be traced to the Phyllis Wheatley Sanitarium and Training School for Negro Nurses, run by the Phyllis Wheatley Club. The training school included hospital care and was founded in 1896. It operated under the administration of the Phyllis Wheatley Club and was located in the Medical College facility of New Orleans University, which the Methodist Episcopal Church ran.
Needing increased financing to maintain the hospital and because of a lack of financial support, the school was taken under the wing of New Orleans University and merged with the school's Medical College hospital. With the efforts of Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Willard Francis Mallalieu, the school was able to enlist the aid of John Flint of Fall River, Massachusetts, who donated $25,000 to the institution.
In 1901, the hospital's name was changed to Sarah Goodridge Hospital and Nurse Training School, and the medical college was named Flint Medical College of New Orleans University in honor of John Flint. Flint donated an additional $10,000 to purchase a new property at 1566 Canal Street, which would house the school. The Flint Medical College closed in 1911 when the American Medical Association deemed its facilities unacceptable. In 1915, the School of Pharmacy closed. That year, all buildings were placed under the Sarah Goodridge Hospital.
This operated under the administration of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1916, the facilities, which had fallen into disrepair, were renovated. The buildings at Canal and Robertson streets, which the Flint Medical College had used, and the Sarah Goodridge Hospital and Nurses Training School were converted into a 50-bed hospital and a nurse's residence. The hospital was renamed Flint-Goodridge Hospital. The Nurse Training Department was reorganized and continued under the management of New Orleans University.
Dillard University governance (1929-1983)
In 1930, New Orleans University and Straight College merged to form Dillard University, a historically black university that owned and operated the hospital. A campaign was initiated to raise $2,000,000 for a completely new facility for the hospital. After funds were secured, the new facility was erected in Uptown New Orleans at 2425 Louisiana Avenue, next to LaSalle Street. On February 1, 1932, the dedication ceremony was held. As a result of the measures of desegregation in the 1960s, Flint Goodridge experienced a decline in patients, which brought about its eventual closure. Investment banker Keith Butler waged an effort to sell the hospital to a group of African American physicians but failed.
In 1983, the hospital was sold to National Medical Enterprises. However, they opted not to use the facility like a hospital—Flint-Goodridge shut its doors. The building that once housed the hospital still stands at 2425 Louisiana Avenue and is now the Flint-Goodridge Apartments in uptown New Orleans, Louisiana. Flint Goodridge functioned as an African American-owned hospital serving the needs of the black community in New Orleans. Rivers Frederick and many other prominent Black physicians spent all or parts of their careers at Flint-Goodridge.
To Become a Pharmacist
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