St. Catherine Hospital History

St. Catherine Hospital 80th Anniversary

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

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

Stress Test Laboratory

1972

Electronic Pacemaker Clinic

Cardiovascular Surgical Intensive Care

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

Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA)

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

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

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