Administrative records of the Loeb Center for Nursing. The Loeb Center was a nurse directed nursing and rehabilitation facility established in 1963 at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York. It was developed to solve the problems of fragmented care common in the 1950s and 1960s by providing 24-hour nursing care, medical supervision and daily evaluations to patients recently released from hospitals but still in need of rehabilitative care.

Index code: MC39

Finding Guide:

Finding Aid for the Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation Records 1963-1984

Created by	Gertrude B. Hutchinson, Archives Intern	July 2006
Oversight by	Rachel Donaldson, Archivist

VOLUME:	0.4 cubic feet

ACCESS:	This collection is open to the public by appointment.

COPYRIGHT:	Please consult the repository for information about duplication or publishing of any materials from this collection.

PREFERRED CITATION:	Loeb Center for Nursing Records (MC39), Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History, Foundation of New York State Nurses, Guilderland, NY

History
Scope and Contents Note
Box and Folder List
- Series 1: Subject Files

History

Using foresight, innovation, and commitment enabled The Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at Montefiore Medical Center (MMC) in The Bronx, New York to break new ground in the care of the chronically-ill even before accepting its first patient on January 10, 1963. Since 1905, the Solomon and Betty Loeb Memorial Home for Convalescents at Montefiore Hospital fulfilled its mission to provide rest and a healthy environment for those people ill of the community. In, 1957, the Board of Trustees decided to pursue a more active, innovative role in community health care by approaching Montefiore Hospital with a proposal for a joint venture: The Solomon and Betty Loeb Trust would supply the construction capital to Montefiore Hospital to complete a new facility (retaining the Loeb name) and Montefiore would supply the personnel, the administration, and oversee the budget. In addition, Montefiore would grant Loeb a ninety-nine year lease at a cost of $1 per year.^[1] Dr. Martin Cherkasky, Director of Montefiore Hospital and its Board of Trustees agreed to the proposal and construction moved forward.

Dr. Cherkasky contacted Lydia E. Hall, RN about becoming involved with this project. He knew Mrs. Hall to be a strong advocate for those with chronic illnesses. Mrs. Hall immediately joined the effort. Over the next five years, from 1957 to 1962, Mrs. Hall involved herself in all aspects of the project from construction to administration. As the Founder and first Director, she insisted that nurses be in charge of all the day to day operations; everyone else on the health care team – from doctors to maintenance – comprised the ancillary members. The development of strict admission criteria assured that patients would be appropriately admitted to the Center. Hall used her significant influence to ensure that Nursing assumed a prominent place in the title of the center. On November 29, 1962, Lucile Petry Leone, Chief Nursing Officer for the Public Health Service in the Department of Health and Welfare delivered the dedication address for The Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation.

On January 10, 1963, The Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation accepted its first patients. Only patients who had passed the critical phase of their illness, and satisfied the admission criteria would be accepted. Montefiore Hospital generated most of the patient referrals; however, other doctors in the area could refer patients. Those referrals were scrutinized against the same admission criteria as the Montefiore patients. Patients needed to be past the critical phase of their illnesses so they could assume an active part in their recuperation.

Hall’s philosophy that: “the ultimate nature of nursing fostered a therapeutic environment leading to a patient’s full recovery”^[2] drove her “Care, Core, Cure” model. She became a pioneer in the development of “nurse-led care” knowing that both the personalized and professional nursing care was integral to the entire process of healing the body and the spirit. The Loeb Center became the gold standard of measurement for future nurse-centered rehabilitation facilities in the United States and Canada in the next two decades. Her work outlived her.

On February 27, 1969, Lydia E. Hall died at Queens Hospital in New York. Genrose Alfano, RN, M.A., FAAN succeeded her. During Alfano’s tenure as Director (1969-1985), the Loeb Center continued to set the standard for nursing care of the chronically ill by utilizing and improving Hall’s model. Genrose Alfano utilized nursing outcomes to assess the success of the patients and the programs at Loeb. Nursing-centered care improved patient outcomes by reducing lengths of stay and rehabilitation time by one-half to one-third. Patients needing to return to the hospital because of a relapse requiring readmission lessened as well.

In 1985, the joint Boards of the Loeb Center and Montefiore Hospital decided to change the focus to the custodial care of a Nursing Home. Genrose Alfano retired from The Loeb Center. Doreen Kolditz, Ed.D, RN (Alfano’s Assistant Director for twelve years) succeeded her.

Administrators:

1963-1969	Lydia Eloise Hall, RN, M.A.	Founder and First Director of The Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at Montefiore Medical Center, The Bronx, NY
1969-1985	Genrose J. Alfano, RN, M.A., FAAN	Second Director
1985	Doreen Kolditz, Ed.D., RN (formerly Assistant Director under G.J. Alfano from 1973-1985)	Donator of The Loeb Center Collection to the Foundation of New York State Nurses Archive.

Biographies:

Lydia Eloise Hall, RN, M.A. (1906-1969)Born in New York City on September 21, 1906, Hall grew up in York, Pennsylvania. She was an innovator, motivator, and mentor to nurses in all phases of their careers, and advocate for the chronically ill patient. She promoted involvement of the community in health-care issues. Hall stated that “from Psychology, I learned people can do three things with their feelings: express them verbally, repress verbal expression leading to sickness and dis-ease, or become psychotic.”^[3]

Education:
1927	Graduated from New York Hospital School of Nursing
1937	B.S. Degree in Public Health Nursing, Teachers College, Columbia University
1942	M.A. in Teaching of Natural Life Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University Completed all but Doctoral dissertation

Career:
Early	RN in Pennsylvania and New York working with the Life Extension Institute of New York Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
1935-1940	New York Heart Association
1941-1947	Staff Nurse with Visiting Nurses Association of New York
1950	Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University. Innovator educating nurses to function as medical consultants. Research analyst in cardiovascular disease.
1957-1969	Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, Founder and first Director. A prolific writer on nursing-centered models of care, Hall wrote over twenty articles about the Loeb Center. Her “Care, Core, Cure” model prevented fragmentation of care. The “Care” denoted “hands on” or direct patient care; the “Core” stressed utilization of the self in relationship to the patient; and the “Cure” denoted the application of medical knowledge to educate the patient and family about the illness process.^[4]

Awards:
1967	TCNEAA Nursing Practice Award. Inducted into The Nursing Hall of Fame, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City.

Genrose Julia Alfano, RN, M.A., FAANGenrose Alfano was a vocal champion for nurse-led elder care and equal access to care for the elderly. She did not tolerate age discrimination and let everyone who entered her office know it with this sign on her door: “Age only matters if you’re a cheese.” Like her predecessor at the Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, Alfano was a prolific writer about elder rights and nursing care of the chronically ill and aged.

Education:	M.A. Degree, Teachers College, Columbia University

Career:
1969-1985	Director of Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation (succeeding Lydia E. Hall)
1986	Editor of Geriatric Nursing, and American Journal of Care for the Aging.

Awards:
1976	TCNEAA Nursing Practice Award. Inducted into The Nursing Hall of Fame, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City.

Scope and Contents Notes

The historical materials of the Loeb Center for Nursing Rehabilitation at Montefiore Medical Center in The Bronx, New York, include: the history about joint efforts of the trustees from the Solomon and Betty Loeb Memorial Home (Convalescent Home) and Montefiore Medical Center to form the Loeb Center; speeches given and articles written by Loeb Center’s founder and first director, Lydia E. Hall, focus on her “Care, Core, and Cure Model” as the foundational basis for nursing at the Center.

The speeches, reports, and articles of Loeb’s second director, Genrose Alfano, attest to her commitment to advocate for nurses and the chronically ill and/or elderly patients. Alfano used education and outcome-based evaluations to assess the positive impact of nursing on patients’ recoveries.

The collection consists of one series of Subject Files divided into nine folders (see Box and Folder List).

Box and Folder List

Series 1: Subject Files

Box 1
Folder:

Alfano, Genrose. Articles and Speeches 1960s-1980s.
Articles and Bibliography. Selected references re: Loeb Center, c. 1954-1980.
“Demonstration Project to Improve Outcomes of the Chronically Ill,” c. 1981, 1983.
Hall, Lydia. Founder of Loeb Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at Montefiore Medical Center. Articles and Speeches, c.1950s-1980s.
History of Loeb Center at Montefiore Medical Center.
Job Descriptions.
“Longitudinal Effects of on Experimental Nursing Process,” c. 1975.
Project Reports, c. 1963, 1964, 1973, 1982, 1983.
Artifact: Pin.

Footnotes

[1] Lydia E. Hall, RN, M.A., Director, “Project Report Loeb Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation at Montefiore Hospital,” (New York: In-house publication, 1964), 4.
[2] Laurie Scrivener and J. Suzanne Barnes, A Dictionary of Women Healers: Midwives, Nurses, and Physicians, (Westport, CT: Oryx Press, 2002), 120.
[3] Lydia E. Hall, “Nursing – What Is It?,” The Canadian Nurse 60(2): 150-154.
[4] Becky Sisk, Ph.D., RN, “Lydia Hall,” , 6 June 2006

Revisions:
Gertrude Hutchinson	July 2006