The Christ Hospital Joint and Spine Center : A Whole Building Design Guide Case Study

This entry contains a link to a detailed case study published by the Whole Building Design Guide.

The Christ Hospital was founded in 1888 with a vision to reduce sickness and poverty in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. A group of local citizens led by James Gamble—whose soap business eventually became the Procter & Gamble company—invited Isabella Thoburn, a teacher, nurse, and missionary, to come to Cincinnati. They asked her to start a program to train deaconesses and missionaries to carry on religious, educational, and philanthropic work to alleviate the appalling poverty that existed in the city. Thoburn accepted the invitation, and in 1889 she opened a 10–bed hospital named Christ's Hospital in the West End at 46 York Street. It was moved to Mount Auburn in 1893, a nursing school was opened in 1902, and the hospital was renamed The Christ Hospital in 1904.

The Christ Hospital has celebrated many firsts over the years, including performing the first ceramic hip replacement in the U.S. in 1982. The new 365,000 sf. Christ Hospital Joint & Spine Center provides patients even better access to care—from physical therapy for a sports injury to the most complex spine disorders.