In Good Company - A publication of Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Centers
Issue link: https://blog.providence.org/i/1470470
Torrance It was 187 7 when Mar y Potter, a 30-year-old English woman, established her first small mission to care for the sick. The Little Company of Mar y ministr y was primarily based in Europe until 1893 when the sisters were invited to Chicago where they opened their first American convent. In 1956, Cardinal James McIntyre invited the sisters of Little Company of Mar y to open a hospital in the growing post-World War II South Bay area. With the help of Mr. George Schneider, a local real estate businessman, and Monsignor O 'Dw yer from the Archdiocese, the sisters were able to finalize plans on 10 acres of proper ty on the corner of Torrance and Hawthorne Boulevard. Four brave Sisters traveled to California from Chicago to finalize building plans, help organize the staff and begin fundraising effor ts. Help came by way of several women who became the founders of the Little Company of Mar y Hospital 's Auxiliar y, whose motto was "Ser vice Above Self." Groundbreaking for Little Company of Mar y Hospital in Torrance was in December of 1957. Built in the shape of a cross, the 150-bed facility was dedicated on Januar y 4,1960 by Cardinal McIntyre. The medical center included three operating rooms for major surger y, one emergency operating room, three labor rooms, and two deliver y rooms – and was considered state-of the ar t. The average nurses' salar y was $2.20 per hour. Sr. Patricia Dooly, LCM would ser ve as the hospital 's first administrator. The ver y first implantation of a cardiac pacemaker took place at Little Company of Mar y Hospital in 1967. Within the next seven years, it became the first South Bay hospital to per form coronar y bypass surger y and to open a cardiac catheterization laborator y. Providence Little Company of Mar y Foundation, the fundraising arm of the ministr y, was organized in 1975. Among their first goals was to raise funds for the construction of the Center for Health Education. -Throughout the following decades, numerous expansions took place including an additional four-stor y wing in 1979, the opening of Del Amo Diagnostic Center, and a 121-bed skilled nursing facility known as the Pavilion in 1986. Providence Little Company of Mar y Medical Center Torrance present day. 6 Our HistOry