Tag Archives: public health

Saint Mary’s Hospital Collection

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Saint Mary's Hospital Collection, 1884-1977. https://findingaids.libraries.uc.edu/repositories/4/resources/1075

The Saint Mary’s Hospital Collection consists of 93 ledgers of hospital information about patient admissions, patients of German heritage, births, surgical operations, intensive care unit patients, deaths, physicians in Cincinnati, Ohio and information about a tuberculosis outbreak in New York City. The hospital was founded in 1858-1859 in Cincinnati, Ohio by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor.

Saint Mary's Hospital Collection ledgers. Many of the ledgers are oversized and weigh approximately 40 lbs.

St. Mary’s Hospital in Cincinnati was a historic medical institution established in 1858–1859 by the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis on Betts and Linn Streets. Designed by architect Anthony Bley, the hospital served thousands of Cincinnati’s impoverished and German citizens. With a capacity of 325 hospital beds, St. Mary’s Hospital treated over 2,000 patients each year. The hospital was enlarged in 1860 and again in 1875. It was well-known as an important facility for emergency cases and taking care of the medical needs of Cincinnati’s West End neighborhood. St. Mary’s was supported by the contributions of the public and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The historic hospital closed on May 1, 1971. The Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis also shaped other healthcare organizations in the Cincinnati region, including what is now Mercy Health. The St. Mary’s Hospital Collection may be useful for research in genealogy and the social and medical history of Cincinnati in the late 19th century.

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UC Graduate a notable leader in the United States anti-smoking movement

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UC Graduate a notable leader in the United States anti-smoking movement

Ahron Leichtman (February 21, 1943 – October 12, 2018) was a national and regional leader in the quest to ban public smoking in the United States. He graduated in 1964 from the University of Cincinnati, with a Bachelor of Arts in political science, and earned a creative writing certificate from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1971.

UC Graduate a notable leader in the United States anti-smoking movement
UC Graduate a notable leader in the United States anti-smoking movement
UC Graduate a notable leader in the United States anti-smoking movement
UC Graduate a notable leader in the United States anti-smoking movement

During the 1980s and 1990s he founded multiple organizations to carry out anti-smoking initiatives. He established and led Citizens Against Tobacco Smoke (CATS), which was later renamed Citizens for a Tobacco-Free Society (CATS). Leichtman organized a coalition of over 90 nonsmoker’s rights, anti-smoking and environmental health groups to provide tireless grassroots support for the national campaign to ban airline smoking.

He created the Smoke-free Skies Campaign that led to the ban of smoking on all U.S. airline flights. Leichtman developed promotional materials to encourage the news media to cover the health, safety, legal and economic issues involved with airline smoking. He participated in numerous television network, nationally syndicated and radio interview programs about airline smoking, serving as the primary advocate for a total smoking ban on commercial airline flights.

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