St. Catherine Hospital
Firsts in Northwest Indiana

1928 School of nursing was opened August 1928 and closed 1950
1936 School of x-Ray
  • First to be Approved in Indiana
  • Twenty-ninth (29) in the United States to be approved by American Medical Association, American Society of X-Ray Technicians and American College of Radiology
  • Dr. Benjamin Braun First instructor
  • Mary Knish Janoscek first student
1939 First and only hospital in the calumet area to take care of polio patients
  • Cared for two hundred fifty-four polio patients from Lake/Porter Counties
  • Unit closed in 1949
1960 Cobalt 60 Radiation Therapy First in Area
1961 Cardiac Cath Lab
1961 Electrocardioversions (including Chicago)
1962 Open Heart Surgery
1966 Coronary Angiography in Chicago Area & State of Indiana
  • Dr. Wm. Shelton, Cleveland Clinic
1967 Coronary Bypass (including Chicago)
  • Fellow from the U of C Rotated Through St. Catherine Cath Lab to Learn How to Perform Coronary Angiography
1971 Echocardiographic Laboratory
1971 Stress Test Laboratory
1972 Electronic Pacemaker Clinic
1972 Cardiovascular Surgical Intensive Care
1972 Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
1975 1st in Northwest Indiana to treat with a Clinac 4 linear accelerator, operational December 1, 1975
1982 Intra-Coronary Streptokinase Procedures
1982 Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA)
1982 Cardiac Cath Lab Offering Electrophysiology Studies
1984 Digital Subtraction Angiography with Cardiac Capabilities
1987 Northwest Indiana first Sleep Disorder Center
1988 Color-Flow Doppler Echocardiography
1988 Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (AICD)
1989 Mobile Dornier extracorporeal shockwave lithotripter, in Northwest Indiana for Lakeshore Health System
1992 Northwest Indiana first to offer electrophysiology studies
1996 Intra-Vascular Ultrasound
1997 Hand Center of St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago only hospital in Northwest Indiana with an E.R. dedicated to hand injuries
1999 First Baby to be Delivered by a Midwife in Northwest Indiana
1999 Introduction of the Families with Heart Disease Program/Advanced Lipids Testing
2000 MRI with Cardiac Capabilities
2005 CyberKnife
  • First in the State of Indiana and Chicagoland area