Bridgeport Hospital is a hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States.

The hospital calls itself "the most comprehensive hospital in Fairfield County, with 2,300 employees, 520 active attending physicians representing 70 subspecialties, 227 medical/surgical residents and fellows in programs affiliated with Yale University School of Medicine, and more than 400 volunteers and auxilians," according to the hospital Web site. Robert J. Trefry is the hospital president.

In 2006, Solucient ranked the hospital as having one of the 100 best cardiovascular care programs in the country.

Bridgeport Hospital has 20,000 admissions and 160,000 outpatient treatments per year, including 62,000 emergency department visits and 35,450 clinic visits, according to the Hospital Web site.

The hospital is one of seven in Connecticut offering hyparbaric medical treatment. Norwalk Hospital also has a hyperbaric treatment program, and in November 2007, Greenwich Hospital applied to the state to offer hyperbaric treatment.

Satellite locations

Locations of specialized services:

• Radiology:
• Fairfield — 1055 Post Road
• Stratford — 2876 Main St.
• Trumbull — 15 Corporate Drive
• Orange — 320 Boston Post Road

• Draw Stations (blood, urine samples):
• Bridgeport Hospital, One Stop Testing Center — 267 Grant Street, Bridgeport (Main Lobby)
• Shelton — The Huntington Walk-In Medical Center — 887 Bridgeport Ave.
• Southport — 2600 Post Road
• Stratford — 3115 Main St.
• Trumbull — 15 Corporate Drive

• Urgent Care:
• EmergEase at Bridgeport Hospital (enter through the Emergency Dept.)
• The Huntington Walk-In Medical Center — 887 Bridgeport Avenue, Shelton

• Ahlbin Rehabilitation Centers provide physical, neurological, or cognitive (learning and thinking)rehabilitation services, including specialized services for young children and occupational therapy; wellness programs "to improve physical and emotional wellbeing"; firefighter fitness programs; ergonomic assessments; and back safety classes:
• Bridgeport — 226 Mill Hill Avenue
• Southport — 2600 Post Road
• Stratford — 3585 Main Street
• Shelton — 4 Corporate Drive

History

In the 1870s, Dr. George Lewis, a physician practicing in the city, persuaded his aunt, Susan Hubbell, to bequeath $13,500 and an acre at the summit of Mill Hill for the construction of a hospital, the first in Fairfield County and only the third in the state (after New Haven Hospital -- now known as Yale-New Haven Hospital -- and Hartford Hospital). Before Bridgeport Hospital, "the closest thing to a hospital in the city was a facility in the basement of the future police headquarters, where infection and mortality rates were high among the emergency patients and poor residents who received care there," according to the Bridgeport Hospital Web site.

The hospital was founded in 1878 when Bridgeport Mayor P.T. Barnum and other community leaders received approval from the state Legislature to incorporate the institution. When a board of directors was named soon afterward, Barnum was elected its first president. On November 12, 1884, the new hospital began treating patients.

Recent "Firsts" at the hospital include having the first off-pump cardiac bypass surgery in Fairfield County (1999); the first fully digital cardiac catheterization lab in Connecticut (1999); the first implantable defibrillator for the treatment of sudden death (1990s); the first pacemaker implanted to treat congestive heart failure (2001); the first cardiac ablation procedure in Fairfield County (2001); the first use of drug-coated coronary stents in Fairfield County (2001).

Nearby hospitals

• List of hospitals in Connecticut
• Stamford Hospital
• St. Vincent's Medical Center
• Norwalk Hospital
• Greenwich Hospital
• Danbury Hospital

Footnotes

External links

• Connecticut Department of Public Health
• Hospital Performance Comparisons a report released in February 2006 by the state Department of Health