St. Luke's International Hospital

St. Luke's International Hospital
Main entrance of St. Luke's International Hospital
Geography
Location	9-1 Akashi-cho, Chuo, Tokyo 104-8560, Japan
Coordinates	35°40′02″N 139°46′38″E / 35.66722°N 139.77722°E / 35.66722; 139.77722Coordinates: 35°40′02″N 139°46′38″E / 35.66722°N 139.77722°E / 35.66722; 139.77722
Organisation
Care system	Private
Hospital type	Teaching
Affiliated university	St Luke's College
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	539
History
Founded	1902
Links
Website	http://www.luke.or.jp/eng/index.html
Lists	Hospitals in Japan

St. Luke's International Hospital (財団法人 聖路加国際病院^?) is a general and teaching hospital located in the Tsukiji district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan.

First opened in 1902, as a medical mission facility by the Episcopal Church in the United States, the hospital is now one of central Tokyo's largest and most comprehensive medical care facilities.

St. Luke's Hospital, initially a modest wooden-framed structure comprising two wards and five rooms, was first opened 1902 in Tsukiji on the edge of the foreign settlement. The hospital was transformed in the early years of the 20th century through the work of Rudolf Teusler into the largest and most modern medical facility in Japan. Dr. Teusler, a Georgia-born, medical physician who first arrived in Japan in 1900 as a medical missionary of the Episcopal Church, focused his initial work in Japan on child health provision and on public health and hygiene.

The hospital was all but destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. As fundraising had already begun in the United States for new buildings on a larger site to a design by architect Antonin Raymond Dr. Teusler was able to count on the generosity of existing donors to rapidly rebuild. An early grant from the Rockefeller Foundation also supported the establishment of a public health institute. In 1927 St. Luke's College of Nursing became the first college of nursing established in Japan.

The hospital was able to remain open and continue its work throughout the Second World War; its staff of 40 doctors and 130 nurses remaining at their posts. At the end of the war the medical center was requisitioned by the United States Army for a period of eleven years becoming the 49th Army General Hospital. St. Luke's continued to provide medical services to the Japanese community from barracks facilities rented from the city of Tokyo throughout the post war years of occupation. The College of Nursing sharing facilities during this period with the Red Cross School of Nursing.