90 Years of Progress to Serve the Community

As a part of the South Pinellas community for 90 years, St. Anthony’s Hospital has provided compassionate care to thousands of patients. And the hospital, which is part of the BayCare Health System, is continuing its commitment to providing health care to all in our community with the construction of a new 90-bed patient tower scheduled to open in Spring 2022.

“We like to say that we are providing 90 beds for our 90 years,” said St. Anthony’s Hospital President Scott Smith. “The patient tower will enable us to meet the growing needs of the community we serve, improve access to care and enhance the patient experience.”

As St. Anthony’s marks 90 years of providing exceptional care to all, it’s important to take a look back at how the hospital started – and a look forward to where it’s going as this $152-million phase of the hospital’s construction project continues.

A Look Back
When the Great Depression of 1929 took its toll on businesses throughout the country, health care was not spared. Financial woes forced Faith Hospital of St. Petersburg to close its doors in 1930.

Dr. LeRoy Wylie, who had operated the hospital since 1920, and the Most Rev. Patrick Barry, bishop of the St. Augustine Diocese, sought out the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany (N.Y.) for help. The Sisters were already operating St. Francis Hospital in Miami.

In June 1931, the Sisters bought Faith Hospital for $40,000. They renamed the hospital after the Franciscan saint, St. Anthony of Padua. St. Anthony’s name is often invoked to help find lost articles or grant miracles because he was known as the helper of those in trouble.

Four months later, Mother Mary Magdalena, St. Anthony’s first administrator, arrived in St. Petersburg. In all, nine Franciscan sisters and two postulants came to St. Petersburg. With $50 among them, their mission was to establish the first Catholic hospital on Florida’s West Coast. The hospital officially opened in November 1931.

“St. Anthony’s has a long heritage of working to provide high-quality compassionate care guided by the mission and values of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany,” said Sister Mary McNally, OSF, vice president of mission. “We want to care for all and provide them with healing for the whole person both physically and spiritually.”

The health care mission is a major commitment of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany. Education, research and scientific advancement characterize each Franciscan health care institution. The values of respect, hospitality and quality compassionate care epitomize the Franciscan spirit at St. Anthony’s.

In 1951, the hospital grew into a six-building complex with 225 beds. Five years later when the hospital celebrated its’ 25th anniversary, there were 300 beds and about 7,500 patients were being treated each year by a medical staff that included an estimated 130 physicians

From the 1950s through the 1970s, St. Anthony’s expanded further and began providing services to the community that were unavailable in Pinellas County. In 1960, St. Anthony’s opened the first Cardiac Catheterization Lab in the county. In 1972 the hospital had the first computerized pharmacy in the southeastern United States.

The 1980s and 1990s also had their share of firsts. In July 1980, St. Anthony’s opened its CareUnit, a facility to treat patients with drug and alcohol-related dependencies. The 1990s saw the computerization of the hospital’s Health Information System. St. Anthony’s also became one of the first hospitals that joined together to form BayCare Health System. BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 15 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions.

And the 2000s saw the opening of the Emergency Center and Franciscan Patient Care Tower in 2012. The hospital currently has 393 beds.

Moving Forward
As 2021 is nearing its end, many changes have been made at St. Anthony’s to prepare for the future. And the construction project has continued on schedule as the hospital worked through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 90-bed patient tower will feature all-private patient rooms. Each floor will house a different unit including post-surgery; general medical/surgery; dialysis; and oncology. There will be bridges on the fifth and sixth floors to connect the new facility to the existing hospital.

“We also are adding three additional surgical suites which will bring our total to 16,” Smith said. “We have so many surgeons in St. Petersburg who want to bring their patients to St. Anthony’s. We are adding the surgical suites to increase capacity and service to our community.”

To prepare for the 90-bed tower, several departments throughout the hospital, including Release of Medical Records, Pre-Admission Testing and Team

Resources, were relocated so they are more accessible for the community. The largest relocation involved moving the hospital cafeteria and kitchen from the ground floor to the first floor. The kitchen/cafeteria was the eighth department move during this phase of the project.

“Moving the cafeteria to the first floor is a significant customer service enhancement to help visitors easily locate food services,” Smith said. “Our goal is to make sure that all who visit our hospital are able to easily find those areas that they need to go to. And now that the COVID numbers have begun to come down, we also have our volunteers and concierge teams to help guide patients and visitors.”

When the patient tower is complete, patients and visitors also will see a new main entrance to the hospital off Seventh Avenue N. “This main entrance will become the focal point of the hospital allowing patients and visitors to easily access all other areas of the campus,” Smith said.

In addition to the completion of the patient tower and the new Seventh Avenue entrance and main lobby, there are several construction milestones set for the remainder of 2021 and into the upcoming year, including:

• Converting the former kitchen into the hospital’s facilities department;
• Creating additional classroom space to meet the needs of the hospital team members as well as community members; and,
• Constructing the clinical education department to include a simulation/skills lab and classrooms.

Most of the ground floor renovations are scheduled to be completed in April 2022. Several other departments have temporarily relocated and will be moving to permanent spaces in the next seven months.

“We are working hard to continue to provide the same compassionate care that has been a hallmark of the hospital when it was opened 90 years ago by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany,” Smith said. “The construction of our new patient tower will help us to continue to build that legacy of community service far into the future.”

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