BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- The first patient walked through the Lourdes Hospital doors 90 years ago, right after it opened in a converted mansion on Riverside Drive.
"Actually as a big room, with I think 25 beds, was how it started," Lourdes Vice President of Mission Integration Marilyn Perkins said. "It wasn't private rooms in those days."
Now with nearly 300 beds, the hospital has expanded greatly. While it still sits on the same strip of land, officials and employees say so much has changed.
"I remember the days when a person came in for a gall bladder, they might stay removed two weeks recovery," Perkins said. "Now they come in in the morning and go home in the evening."
"This was just a small little dinky, tiny hospital until they started adding on," longtime employee Tony Borovski said. "When I started here, I started in the kitchen. The kitchen was downstairs on the main floor where the learning center is."
Borovski, who started working at Lourdes in 1975, said he watched as businesses cleared out of Binghamton. But Lourdes stayed.
"This became my home. My second home," he added.
A home for many, and a caretaker and life-saver for many others. Looking ahead, hospital officials said the future looks bright.
"We have a dental health program; we have a mental health program," Perkins said. "We have clinics from mammography, all spread out over the community, so we're going to be doing that more and more -- embedding our services where the people are and where the need is."
Perkins said the hospital is now focusing on preventative measures, and it continues to look for ways to offer additional services and make people healthier. Lourdes is having a special celebratory 90th anniversary Mass on Tuesday.