SENATE RESOLUTION

                         1991-8697

By Senators von Reichbauer, Gaspard, Rasmussen, Wojahn, Madsen and Johnson

     WHEREAS, More than 100 years ago, Father Peter Francis Hylebos anticipated the rapid growth and development of what is now the Tacoma area and invited the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia to travel west and found a much-needed hospital; and

     WHEREAS, The Sisters founded St. Joseph Hospital near the shores of Commencement Bay and admitted the Hospital's first patient in August of 1891; and

     WHEREAS, During the remainder of that year, 51 patients were served in a new 60-bed hospital; and

     WHEREAS, Today, 100 years later, St. Joseph Hospital and Health Care Center is a 340-bed non-profit health care facility admitting nearly 15,000 patients, delivering 2,083 babies, providing emergency medical treatment to nearly 30,000 people and accommodating almost 150,000 outpatient service visits EACH YEAR; and

     WHEREAS, St. Joseph Hospital employs 2,100 people and serves 685 physicians with medical staff privileges; and

     WHEREAS, St. Joseph Hospital's equipment, technology and staff enable them to provide the widest possible range of medical treatment, including a cancer treatment center, five family birthing suites, firefighters burn center (a regional referral center for burn care), mental health services, rehabilitation services and home health care services; and

     WHEREAS, St. Joseph Hospital has grown with the Tacoma community -- with new buildings completed in 1975, 1982 and 1985, and will grow yet again this summer with the completion of the Western Clinic building, housing Tacoma's largest group practice of primary care physicians; and

     WHEREAS, In addition to providing health care services for thousands of families in the South Puget Sound region, St. Joseph Hospital also serves to improve the health and well-being of its community; and

     WHEREAS, The Hospital provides such outreach programs as the Youth Employment Project in Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood, the SMART reading tutor Program at McCarver Elementary School and the Hilltop Community Health and Resource Fair, all benefitting youth and families in the Tacoma area;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the Senate of the State of Washington, that on the occasion of St. Joseph Hospital and Health Care Center's Centennial Year, administrators and staff from the past and present are congratulated on 100 years of improving the health, the lives and the communities of Tacoma and the South Puget Sound region, and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Sisters of St. Francis and the Trustees and Administrators of St. Joseph Hospital and Health Care Center with our best wishes for another 100 years of making people's lives better.

I, Gordon A. Golob, Secretary of the Senate,

do hereby certify that this is a true and

correct copy of Senate Resolution 1991-8697,

adopted by the Senate June 25, 1991.

GORDON A. GOLOB

Secretary of the Senate