Thank you to all in attendance at the Henry Ford Grand Ball, Century edition, this last weekend.

The night was magical, and a fitting ending to our yearlong celebration.

I would only have wished that all of the Henry Ford Health System team could have been present for the event.

Governor Rick Snyder presents a special tribute to Henry Ford Health System for its 100 years of service.

The incredible support from the community as a whole and the Ford family, in particular, inspires all of us and is a reminder of what we represent in the community and the history of the last 100 years.

This now refocuses our attention on the next 100 years for our organization. Continue reading →

Make no little plans…Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die, but long after we are gone be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistence…

That quote by Daniel Hudson Burnham, among my favorites, could not be truer this week, as we celebrate 100 years since the doors to Henry Ford Hospital officially opened on Oct. 1, 1915, and we look forward to the “big plans” we’ve made for our next century in Detroit.

The big plans: A new cancer center and neighborhood improvement initiative on 300 acres south of W. Grand Blvd. and north of I-94.

Conceptual drawing of the planned cancer center.

The planned five-story, 144,000 square-foot cancer center will include a rooftop garden and skywalk to connect it to Henry Ford Hospital, marking another key moment in our history and in the city’s revitalization.

We’re creating a world-class cancer facility supporting the expertise of the Henry Ford Medical Group in the care of cancer patients. Opening is expected in summer 2018.

The facility will be modern in its technology and, most importantly, address the physical and emotional needs of our cancer patients by offering greater flexibility with their care, and expanded support services for the duration of their disease. Continue reading →

When Henry Ford took control of the stalled Detroit General Hospital project in 1914, he was left with an incomplete building on the hospital campus. It was an empty shell with no windows, battered by Michigan’s harsh weather.

The unfinished Patient Services Building, c. 1914. (From the Conrad R. Lam Collection, Henry Ford Health System. ID=01-014)

Regardless, Ford was determined to complete the building and assigned the task to his personal secretary Ernest G. Liebold, who became the hospital’s first chief administrator.

With no previous hospital experience, Leibold set out to bring in new architects and quickly finish the facility, and to plan the future.

The original hospital building was very small; it was only designed to house 90 beds.

Liebold was concerned the hospital would fail to meet the great health care needs of the city – or be able to operate in the black – with so few beds, especially since the on-campus power plant, service building and kitchen were capable of serving a hospital of 500.

Prior to completion of the first patient care building, patients were admitted to an open ward in the basement of the current “M” unit, which was to become the private-room building of Henry Ford Hospital.

As you may recall from a prior Doc in the D blog post on this topic, most patients admitted to the basement ward were afflicted with a variety of substance abuse issues, many with serious consequences of narcotics. The first such patient was admitted on July 13, 1915.

On Oct. 1, 1915 the hospital beds in the private-room building of Henry Ford Hospital was completed. The first patient admitted had a diagnosis of erysipelas of the upper extremity, essentially a bacterial infection of the soft tissues. Continue reading →