To Serve the Community: A Celebration of Rochester General Hospital, 1847-1997

To Serve the community celebrates the founding and development of Rochester City Hospital/Rochester General Hospital through the past century and a half. The narrative explores conditions in early Rochester that led community leaders to obtain a hospital charter , to encourage local citizens to support a centralized institution for the care ofthe sick poor and to build community confidence in an institution where everyone might benefit from medical care regardless of social class. The story of the Hospitals' development parallels advances in scientific and medical knowledge in America. It also reflects the evolution of healthcare professionals and technological breakthroughs that have resulted in modern healthcare.