History
1933
The idea of two young physicians, Genival Londres and Aluísio Marques, Sanatório São Vicente was created to receive patients with a psychiatric profile, cardiologic and geriatric diseases and other treatments that demanded a long period of resting.
It received this name, because its first facilities were located in a big house at the corner of Marquês de São Vicente and Adolfo Lutz streets in Gávea, the Southern Zone of Rio de Janeiro – a calm area, privileged by nature, ideal to facilitate the recovery of the ill. The only event that made Gávea a world famous place was the Grand Prix locally called “corrida de baratinhas”, the predecessor of the Current Formula 1 race cars with the Devils Trampoline and racers Farina, Pintacuda, Villoresi and our own Chico Landi. After the descent from the Dois Irmãos Mountain, where Rocinha Slum is currently located, they would drive down Marques de São Vicente at high speeds.
1942
Sanatório São Vicente quickly gained the respect of physicians and patients and the demand increased gradually, making it necessary to expand capacity. Less than ten years after it was opened, an Initial Public Offering was announced to build a new building; at that time the former sanatorium was renamed to Clínica de Repouso São Vicente. One of the new partners, João Borges Filho, transferred land he owned to be used for the new construction that lasted seven years.
November 1949
The inauguration of the new facilities was a medical and social event, attended by the President of the Republic at that time: Eurico Gaspar Dutra, the Mayor of what was then the Federal District, Ângelo Mendes de Morais, and other authorities. The modern headquarters, with a clinical analysis laboratory, electrocardiogram and X-ray equipment, already indicated the pioneer approach that would accompany many future steps of Clínica São Vicente: it was the first private health care centre in Latin America to implement a medicinal gas pipeline (including oxygen and compressed air), that allowed them to reach the beds without the need of having canisters inside the patient’s rooms.
July 1966
Legal requirements made it mandatory to have a Technical Person in Charge. Dr. Luiz Roberto Londres was apportioned for this position. A recent graduate from the National School of Medicine (Faculdade Nacional de Medicina) of the University of Brazil – as the Federal University was called at that time. The natural tendency of making patients feel welcome and not only rendering medical services becomes very clear with the implementation of the Medicine for People.
1968
This is the year a new director arrives at Clínica de Repouso São Vicente, the one who would be a great motivator and who would make it possible to change the resting clinic into a general hospital; he was Portuguese from Madeira Island, had worked with Edgar Mário Berger while transforming the Resting House Dr. White into the Silvestre Hospital, making it a reference hospital in Rio de Janeiro.
Manuel Carlos Nunes brought real professionalism to a homelike institution during his administration. He was responsible for structuring the adequate basis to allow the qualitative leap in all support sectors, such as accounting, finance and human resources, and also launched the basis of a nursing sector that was appropriate for the new times.
Some characteristics of Carlos Nunes, as he was known, that made him unique in the history of Clínica São Vicente is that he:
Never presented problems; but situations with solutions.
Never was loud or depressed; had a constant mood.
Never was fixed to a fact, but to all circumstances.
Never forgot to consider people as people.
Never distanced himself from a gracefully ethical and moral behaviour.
Never created animosity among his colleagues.
His administrative work allowed Luiz Roberto Londres, who still practiced medicine to contact different professional, mainly surgeons to project the future hospital. By hiring an architect, Rolf Werner Hutter the ideas quickly took shape and the shapes triggered the construction.
In this same year, the first and modest Coronary Unit in Rio de Janeiro is set-up, it includes two monitored beds and a defibrillator and cardioversion equipment, connected to the floor’s Nursing Centre.
1970
In a very short period of time, only nine months of work under the supervision of Rolf Hutter and constructor Rafael Borges Dutra, a very modern hospital for the time appears. A Surgery Centre with four rooms, a sterilization room and changing rooms, a fully equipped Radiology Centre and many refurbished rooms.
September of the same year was when surgeries began: Antonio Luiz Medina, Geraldo Terreri, Urbano Fabrini and Ivan Lemgruber were our pioneers during that phase. But still during the construction, a child was born on July 31, much sooner than we thought of having a maternity.
1971
On January 4 Dr. Fernando Paulino sent collaborators to increase the quality of the new hospital. On the 19th his first surgery is performed. He brought reputation, trust, recognition and “instant tradition”. His demands and total inflexibility regarding the technical conditions and ethics were excessively known. His name endorsed the newly born institution.
1972
On October 18, surgeon Fernando Paulino inaugurated the Genival Londres Study Centre, another step towards transforming the former resting home into a modern hospital, with a scientific characteristic and with the conditions to offer training and to keep the physicians up-to-date. The legal entity was changed to Genival Londres Study and Research Centre on October 27 1980 and four years later, on February 10 1987, the Study Centre was recognized as a Public Utility entity as per a presidential decree.
In this same year, the name of Clínica de Repouso São Vicente was changed to Clínica São Vicente as suggested by professional physicians who demanded the change that should have already been made.
1975
New modernization work took place and included building more apartments, installing the maternity with the nursery, creating the ICU with six beds, four of them intensive care and two semi-intensive, and updating the radiology equipment.
1977 and 1978
Two important inaugurations: an Intensive Care Unit for newly born and a full body computerized tomography, both pioneers in our city. Since then technology updates became a constant.
The 80’s
In 1980, Clínica São Vicente was a pioneer in offering within a private hospital a clinical medical residency, under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Félix Roberto Zyngier. In 1984 with the entrance of doctors Alberto Coutinho Filho and Francisco Campana, the Radiotherapy Centre was inaugurated.
The 90’s
A time of strong transformation after a relatively slow decade, reflecting the financial crisis that affected our country. The constant transformation started to be guided by international quality standards. Facilities and services were re-adapted to meet the new criteria.
A new Intensive Care Centre, expanding the Surgical Centre, refurbishing the rooms, refurbishing the reception and hospitalization unit and inaugurating the Emergency Semi-Intensive and the cardiology units. This was also the decade in which the Emergency Service was inaugurated following very current parameters with physicians trained in the ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) system.
In 1997, after an absolute record time (10 months) Clínica São Vicente was the first hospital of the entire Americas to be accredited with ISO 9002.
2000 to 2005
In order to expand intensive activities, with great anguish we had to stop the obstetrician activities closing the maternity that was undoubtedly a unique reference. A new concept in closed intensive care units that allow combining the advancements in biologic care to maintaining the psychological and social care. The Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), also known as the Heart Unit, was inaugurated especially for patients with severe heart diseases who needed intensive surveillance. The CICU has three beds with intensive care support and six beds with hemodynamic monitoring. In them the patient has more privacy and can enjoy the company of a family member. Still following the concept of aligning biological care advances with maintaining psychological and social care in the closed units, we inaugurated the Intensive Care Unit 2, designed in such a way as to make intensive treatment cause the least interference in the patient’s family life. The psychosocial aspect is taken into account both regarding the biological and the physicochemical aspects.
2006 a 2010
In 2006, the diagnostic imaging centre was fully refurbished to service external and hospitalized patient not only in the exam rooms but also anywhere in the hospital. During the second half of 2006 the first Cell Therapy Program in private hospital in Rio de Janeiro was launched, with autologous and allogeneic transplants. In 2007 was inaugurated the Burn Injury Service, the first in a private hospital in the Southeast of Brazil, focused to the care of burn patients at all levels of severity. In 2008, Clínica São Vicente has celebrated its 75 year initiating an overhaul of its facilities. The works included re-painting the facade, modernization of the Surgical Center and the rooms and suites.
Human Capital – the great art
The history you have learnt, the one that is always being developed, based on a pioneer approach, innovation, technology, science and mainly much art, is the result of what was always the main asset of Clínica São Vicente: its human capital, those who have helped to build the institution’s character, and to whom we must eternally dedicate out existence. It is impossible to quantify the honour of having lived with medical personalities that make us proud of their presences until nowadays.