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The CHRISTUS Legacy
NASA program shapes CHRISTUS St. John history
In 1972, Space Center Memorial Hospital opened outside of Houston to serve the 55,000 community members who lived near the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. The goal of the new hospital was "to return to the people of our country the benefits in the form of health service dividends produced from space exploration."
Unfortunately, the facility was closed in September 1974, only 13 months after it opened, by the Federal Housing Administration because the hospital was behind in mortgage payments. The hospital was unoccupied until the federal government took it over.
In 1981, Congress passed an administration bill, part of President Reagan's budget-cutting proposals, that closed eight Public Health Service hospitals in the United States. The Houston-based Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word Health Care Systems was selected by the federal government to assume control of the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Nassau Bay, Texas, a suburb of Houston. The government chose the Sisters of Charity because of their reputation for providing quality care. The Sisters purchased the facility for $1.
On Dec. 9, 1981, CHRISTUS St. John Hospital treated its first patient. The founding sisters of the hospital, Sister Clare Marie, Sister Frances Therese, and Sister Edwin Berry, worked night and day to build St. John Hospital into the quality health care facility it is today. The hospital opened to serve the needs of the community, merchant marines and workers for the Department of Defense as well as Vietnamese and American shrimpers.
In 1982 CHRISTUS St. John Hospital was one of the first hospitals to have a layman, rather than a member of the Congregation, as administrator. Over the years, CHRISTUS St. John Hospital, located across from Johnson Space Center, has been under contract with NASA for provision of the medication kits for the Space Shuttle and for physiological testing for the space program.
A $9 million expansion that was completed in 1989 debuted the concept of LDRP suites in the Center for New Life, enlarged the emergency department and improved diagnostic imaging capabilities.
On Jan. 23, 1998, the hospital unveiled its new street name and address. Hospital Boulevard was renamed St. John Drive in an official proclamation from the mayor. The hospital’s founding sisters were forever memorialized in the new street address, since the "3" in 18300 was chosen to represent the three sisters.
CHRISTUS St. John Hospital has always been committed to the CHRISTUS Mission of extending the healing ministry of Jesus Christ through community involvement and programs. The hospital is responsible for establishing Point of Light Clinic, school-based clinics and Project Gabriel in the Dickinson and Nassau Bay areas. CHRISTUS St. John Hospital also received national attention with the development of its parish nurse program.
CHRISTUS St. John Hospital continues to offer quality acute care health services, has added specialties to serve the community, actively recruited top physicians to fill the needs of Nassau Bay residents and remains solid in the mission of mercy envisioned by its founding sisters 20 years ago.
