Sisters of Charity Hospital (Buffalo)

Sisters of Charity Hospital
Catholic Health System
Sisters of Charity Hospital in 1848
Geography
Location	2157 Main Street, Buffalo, New York, United States
Organization
Hospital type	Teaching
Services
Speciality	Women's services
History
Founded	1 October 1848
Links
Lists	Hospitals in New York

Sisters of Charity Hospital is a general medical and surgical hospital founded in 1848 by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and the oldest hospital in Buffalo, New York. Part of Catholic Health, it is also a teaching hospital. The hospital has 467 beds and specializes in women's health services.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo was created in 1847, and Bishop John Timon, CM, its first prelate, immediately saw the lack of an organized healthcare system in the City of Buffalo. There were some private clinics, but no large central hospital, public or private. The city's mainly Protestant and nativist leadership did not adequately address the healthcare needs of the rapidly growing and mostly Catholic working class, partly due to prejudice. Some did try to establish a Protestant hospital, but efforts faded away for lack of popular interest. Bishop Timon took efforts into his own hands as he saw the pressing need of Buffalo's Catholics for proper healthcare. He traveled to Baltimore in March 1848, seeking a religious order to administer the new hospital. He especially wanted the Sisters of Charity (now known as the Daughters of Charity), who were based in Emmitsburg, Maryland, because they were founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint, and because they had much prior experience working with Protestants. He believed these qualifications made them the ideal religious congregation to work in such a hostile anti-Catholic atmosphere as Buffalo was at the time.