Foundation St Vincent's Hospital was established at
Tarmons in 1857 by five Irish
Sisters of Charity. Tarmons was a stately home in
Potts Point, standing on a block of land that had been purchased by Sir
Maurice O'Connell in 1838. O'Connell named his mansion
Tarmons (which means "sanctuary") after his extended family's home in
County Kerry. The Sisters had migrated to Sydney in 1838 with a mission to help the poor and disadvantaged. Some of their early work included helping victims of the 1853
influenza outbreak and families of prisoners in the nearby
Darlinghurst Gaol. Three of the hospital's founding sisters had trained as professional
nurses in France, and they brought their knowledge to the
colony; they established a
hospital that was free for all people but founded especially for the poor on a non-sectarian basis. The present hospital was founded in the neighbouring suburb of
Potts Point, on a site which is now
St Vincent's College. As demand grew, a new hospital with 150 beds, designed by architect Oswald Lewis, was built on its present site in
Victoria Street, Darlinghurst, in 1870. The building was remodeled and enlarged after World War I; it is now known as the De Lacy Building, after one of the founding sisters.
Organ transplant St Vincent's has carried out pioneering work in
organ transplant, including heart and lungs. The first Australian heart transplant was performed on 23 October 1968 by a team led by
Harry Windsor on a 57-year-old, Richard Pye, who survived for 45 days after the operation. The hospital was also the first Australian hospital to implement a successful
cardiac transplant program. While Windsor led the team, the surgeon who conducted the first
successful transplant in 1982 was
Victor Chang, a
Chinese-Australian cardiothoracic surgeon. One of the first patients to receive a new heart at St Vincent's was 14-year-old
Fiona Coote who, on 7 April 1984, became Australia's youngest and first female heart transplant recipient at the time. In 2014, the world's first contemporary dead (donation after circulatory death [DCD]) heart transplant was performed at St. Vincent's on 57-year-old Michelle Gribilar who was suffering from congenital heart failure. A few weeks later, 43-year-old Jan Damen, who also suffered from congenital heart failure, received the world's second dead heart transplant.
HIV/AIDS and IV drug treatment The hospital was also one of the first health care facilities in Australia to begin treating
AIDS patients when the epidemic reached
Sydney in the early 1980s. This was a direct result of the hospital's close geographic position to the predominantly
gay areas surrounding nearby
Oxford Street and the injecting drug-using population of the notorious
red-light district,
Kings Cross. Dr.
Ron Penny and Dr.
David Cooper are credited with diagnosing the first patient with AIDS in Australia at St Vincent's in October 1982. As the AIDS epidemic grew in Sydney, the hospital led the way in the compassionate treatment of the
sick and the dying, continuing to apply the original values of the Sisters' mission. This early exposure to the frightening implications of a possible
pandemic was responsible for St Vincent's becoming one of the leading centers of
immunology research and practice in the world. The hospital was also one of the first health care facilities in Australia to suggest the idea of a
needle exchange program, in an effort to stem the spread of the virus among IV drug users in the local community, an idea that was highly controversial at the time, and raised the possibility of criminal charges against doctors and other health care workers who implemented it. The hospital instituted Australia's first needle exchange program in 1986. The immunology ward of the hospital was strongly supported by the local
gay community, who staged numerous
charity events to raise money for AIDS care. However, on 24 November 2007, the hospital announced that this ward would be closed because beds allocated for HIV care were not being used due to advances in HIV treatment, resulting in fewer patients needing to be admitted for HIV/AIDS related conditions, and that such patients would in future be admitted to an
oncology ward of the hospital. The decision was made only days before
World AIDS Day on 1 December, and was protested. Hospital management held discussions with leaders of HIV/AIDS groups in Sydney, explaining the reasons for the ward closure, and highlighting an increase in
outpatient and
ambulatory care services that would be provided instead. The hospital leased the ward to the
Royal Australian Navy while its
Balmoral Navy Hospital was refurbished, using their own staff, but making use of St Vincent's
pathology and
radiology services.
21st century expansion In 1996, St Vincent's joined the Sisters of Charity Health Service, which already encompassed 17 other health care facilities and became Australia's largest not-for-profit health care provider. building forming part of the integrated healthcare campus The hospital was extensively upgraded in 2001. The hospital is a primary teaching facility and offers a wide array of clinical experience to students studying medicine and nursing in particular. It was originally affiliated with the
University of Sydney from 1923 to 1968 when it changed affiliation to the
University of New South Wales. It also has links with the
University of Technology, Sydney,
Australian Catholic University,
University of Tasmania and the
University of Notre Dame Australia. Forming part of the St Vincent's Local Hospital Network, the hospital became a facility of St Vincent's Health Australia. In 2004 St Vincent's was forced to close beds because of inadequate government funding. From January to March 2007, an entire surgical ward was forced to close in order to cut costs. In 2006, building work commenced on Stage 1 of the St Vincent's Research and Biotechnology Precinct, a joint partnership between the hospital, the
Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the
Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. Additional construction commenced in 2008 upon a new facility within the grounds of St Vincent's; it will encompass a
mental health,
drug and
alcohol, and
community health unit. In 2008, building work commenced on a new facility within the grounds of St Vincent's that will encompass a
drugs and
alcohol,
mental health and
community health unit. The
University of Notre Dame Australia opened its
Darlinghurst site in 2008, which is the home of the Sydney branches of its Schools of Medicine and Nursing. It is situated on the sites of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and the Sacred Heart Hospice. It is co-located with the hospital and the Sacred Heart Health Service, and forms part of the wider St Vincent's Integrated Healthcare Campus. It is also home to a medical library named after
Pope Benedict XVI who blessed the site following its opening. In 2009, the Sisters of Charity transferred the stewardship of St Vincent's Health Australia to the Trustees of Mary Aikenhead Ministries. ==Services==