A merger of the Jewish Maternity Hospital of 270 East Broadway which has been serving the lower east side since 1906, and the new Beth Israel Hospital, now in its new building on Stuyvesant Park East, to be known as the Beth Israel Hospital Medical Cetre, was announced yesterday by Saul Singer, president of Beth Israel, and Louis Satenstein, president of the Jewish Maternity Hospital.
The merger has been approved by the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies, with which both hospitals are affiliated as constituent agencies. Plans call for the building of a new maternity hospital unit on the ground immediately adjacent to the Beth Israel building on Seventh Street east of Second Avenue, and also for the erection of a new dispensary building as part of the merged institution.
Beth Israel Hospital, which opened its new building six months ago after serving the public since 1890 on Jefferson Street, has a capacity of 500 beds and attempts to provide medical care in individual rooms to all patients regardless of their financial status.
The Jewish Maternity Hospital was a pioneer on the lower east side in popularizing the hospital as a place for child-birth, overcoming the prejudice which many persons brought from Europe against the use of institutions. Since the hospital was founded, 31,295 children have been born within its walls.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
