HISTORY
St. Joseph's Health & Wealth Raffle is the first of its kind in Arizona and one of the largest fundraisers for St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center and Barrow Neurological Institute. Since its inception in 2003, the Raffle has raised over $52 million for St. Joseph's, enabling the hospital to fund research, medical education, and patient care. To date, nearly 120,000 prizes have been awarded to Raffle participants, including 26 homes, more than 350 trips, and more than 420 vehicles.
Here is a brief history of St. Joseph's, early milestones, and the kinds of things the hospital has been able to accomplish since the inception of St. Joseph's Health & Wealth Raffle in 2003.
In 1895, the Sisters of Mercy opened St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, the Valley's first hospital, to give desperately needed medical care to a community then in its infancy. Since then this extraordinary facility has brought hope, health and a long line of life-giving firsts to our vital, burgeoning community. Among our many historic milestones are:
- 1928 – First Pediatric Department in the Valley
- 1962 – First Neuroscience Center (Barrow Neurological Institute) in the Southwest
- 1964 – First Coronary Care Unit in the Southwest
- 1966 – First Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Arizona
- 1972 – First Pediatric ICU in Arizona
- 1977 – First Gamma Knife Center in the Southwest
- 1981 – First Multiple Sclerosis Clinic in Arizona
- 1983 – First Stroke Unit in Arizona
- 1988 – First Epilepsy Monitoring Unit in Arizona
- 1999 – First DNA Diagnostics Laboratory in Arizona
February of 2003 – St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center launched the first St. Joseph's Health & Wealth Raffle; the first mega raffle of its kind in the United States. And since then the firsts continue…
- 2003 – First Thoracic Disease Center in Arizona
- 2003 – First Cyberknife in the Southwest
- 2003 – First Oral Health Collaborative in Arizona
- 2003 – First Hypothalamic Harmartoma Center in the United States
- 2005 – First Congenital Heart Center in the Valley providing lifelong care for people with heart defects
- 2006 – First Intraoperative MRI in a Hospital
- 2007 – First Lung Transplant Program in the Valley
- 2007 – First Pediatric Cardiothoracic ICU in Arizona
For 114 years, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center has been first in providing Valley residents with the next generation of cutting-edge medical technology. Today, St. Joseph's is home to:
- Barrow Neurological Institute, consistently named one of the top-10 neuroscience centers in the country by U.S. News and World Report
- The Valley's only Lung Transplant Center
- One of the largest hospital-based research centers in Arizona
- The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, the most comprehensive center for movement disorders in the U.S.
- The Scott and Laura Eller Congenital Heart Center, caring for patients from before birth through adulthood
- The first and one of only two Level I Trauma Centers in Arizona
- The Valley's first Pediatric Heart Transplant Center
- One of our state's largest medical education programs, including the new Creighton University School of Medicine at St. Joseph's
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center with Arizona's only Gamma Knife and CyberKnife radiosurgery technology.
On the horizon at St. Joseph's are many more programs and services critical to the health of Arizona, including a brain tumor research center and a center dedicated to exploring and expanding the use of deep brain stimulation. With the support that St. Joseph's Health & Wealth Raffle provides, St. Joseph's Hospital can continue its contributions of medical firsts well into the future.
