Oral History of the AIDS Ward at St. Vincent's

St. Vincent's Hospital - located between the gay neighborhoods of Chelsea and the West Village in Manhattan - was ground zero during the early years of the AIDS epidemic.  Sadly, the hospital recently closed after serving the community for 160 years (!) - but Out.com has compiled an amazing oral history of St. Vincent's AIDS Ward.

Read the extraordinary remembrances HERE.

St. Vincents Hospital Covered In Plywood

Photo Credit: Lady Bunny Blog

St. Vincent's Hospital - the 160-year-old institution that treated Titanic survivors and bore the early brunt of NYC's AIDS epidemic - closed their doors for good last week.  This leaves the West Side of downtown Manhattan with no hospital, and many residents are heartbroken.

The emergency room ambulance bays have been covered with plywood, where people have been spontaneously leaving messages and lighting candles in loving memory of St. Vincent's.  I actually entered the emergency room through this ambulance bay one evening with my elderly friend Bill - he died at the hospital a few days later of lung disease.  St. Vincent's was the last place I ever saw him.

It is widely assumed that the the people overseeing St. Vincent's assets will sell the prime Greenwich Village real estate to developers, who will no doubt build luxury condos for rich people.  Just what this town needs...

Source: Jeremiah's Vanishing New York

NYC's St. Vincent's Hospital To Close

The Board of Directors of St. Vincent’s – NYC’s last Catholic hospital – voted to shut down operations last night after 160 years due to financial insolvency caused by crushing debt. St. Vincent’s had a fabled history in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan – treating everyone from survivors of the Titanic to many of the East Coast’s earliest AIDS patients.

When I first moved to NYC I lived in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. But I had no idea where any Brooklyn hospitals were located, so when I got sick I took the subway to the Village and went to the emergency room of St. Vincent’s.  St. Vincent’s was also the hospital where my friend Bill died of old age and lung disease – after our harrowing 4-block trip with me riding in the back of a St. Vincent’s ambulance.

I also remember passing by St. Vincent’s on September 11th, 2001 – and wrote about it in my 9/11 remembrance post:

One of my most vivid memories of that day is walking past St. Vincent's hospital - which is a huge hospital and trauma center located a few blocks north of the restaurant. They were in "emergency mode" - with doctors, nurses, etc., posted outside to take care of the incoming wounded. And they were all just standing around, waiting for people who never came. Unreal.

With the closing of St. Clare’s hospital a few years ago (which was conveniently located around the corner from my apartment), the West Side of Manhattan is left with only one Hospital – St. Luke’s-Roosevelt on the Upper West Side.