Cottage Health 2020 Culture Audit

Cottage Health - An Uncommon Legacy Our Founders Had a Vision It was in 1888 when Mary Ashley led a group of local women to start a hospital. The population of Santa Barbara was only 5,000 at the time, but the city was a popular travel destination for health reasons with its temperate climate, coastal and mountain environment and natural mineral springs. Yet Santa Barbara had no hospital. Mary Ashley and her peers wanted to change that. They wanted to make things better. They envisioned the best of medical care for their beloved community and took matters into their own hands to raise the needed funds to make it happen. Three years later, their vision became a reality with the opening of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Mary Ashley served as the first board president. Making Lives Better for Over a Century The doors of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital first opened in 1891 and have remained open every day since – through wars, fires, floods, the 1918 flu epidemic, the 1925 earthquake, the Great Depression and the historic natural disasters recently endured by our community. Dr. Jane Spaulding - A Pioneer in Medicine Dr. Jane Spaulding served as the hospital’s first superintendent, the modern day equivalent of CEO. At that time, female physicians were a rarity, and Dr. Spaulding forged a path for future female physicians as she treated patients, trained nurses, managed the hospital and even oversaw the hospital’s farm, since the hospital grew much of its own food. 14/119 Start | Contents | Highlights | Business Description | Hiring & Welcoming | Inspiring | Speaking | Listening | Thanking | Developing | Caring | Celebrating | Sharing • Business Description 6.21