The BronxCare Health System, previously known as "Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center," is a hospital in the Bronx, New York City. It was founded as the Lebanon Hospital by Jonas Weil in 1890. In 1962, Lebanon Hospital merged with Bronx Hospital, and since 2016 the combined center has served a teaching hospital for Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
History
The current hospital center owes its origins to the immigration of European Jews in the late 19th century that caused an even greater strain on the area's hospitals. Jonas Weil, after a poor experience in trying to obtain treatment for a friend decided to look for a solution to this program. The first step in this process was the creation of the Lebanon Hospital Association via his own donation of $10,175. Further monies followed from others, and the Lebanon Hospital was chartered in 1890 and opened in 1893 at the corner of Westchester Avenue and 151st Street. A nursing school was added in 1894, and several expansions followed that coincided with continued population growth in the region. Finally, Lebanon Hospital moved to a newer building on Grand Concourse at Mount Eden Parkway in 1946. The Bronx Hospital, meanwhile, was founded in 1911 to meet the healthcare needs of the growing South Bronx community and was caring for more than 30,000 patients per year within its first seven years of operation. The operational team of the new hospital purchased the Eichler estate on Fulton Avenue and turned the home into a 110-bed hospital. Within an additional seven years, the local population grew further, necessitating a 310-bed hospital. By the time the 1950s had drawn to a close, the two hospital boards shared staff and resources in order to best serve the needs of the Bronx's still-growing population and the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center was created in 1962. The current center consists of two major facilities: one based on the original Lebanon Hospital Grand Concourse site, a 17-story tower that provides medical, specialty, outpatient and emergency services; and one on Bronx Hospital's Fulton site, now a psychiatric and substance abuse program and a 240-bed skilled nursing facility. The hospital's promise is that it does not turn anyone away although it has come under scrutiny recently due to its billing practices that left some patients facing large bills.
2017 attack
At approximately 3 p.m. on June 30, 2017, gunman Dr. Henry William Bello, a doctor who left Bronx-Lebanon after sexual harassment complaints, entered the building with an AR-15 rifle concealed under a lab coat. He attempted to locate a female target, then shot other medical staff. Approximately one hour later police found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
