Jessa Hospital

Part of the park and chapel of the hospital on the Salvator campus.

In 1924, the Salvator Clinic opened on the Luikersteenweg in Hasselt, founded by Salvatorian nuns. This clinic was the first acute private hospital in the Belgian province of Limburg. As the property of the Salvatorian Sisters, a private hospital was established in 1926 on the estate of the Castle 't Hollandt in Hasselt, which would later be expanded to become the Salvator Hospital. In 1931, the Salvator Hospital was further expanded to also include a nursing school, Mater Salvatoris. Later, this school was transformed into the Free Technical Institute (VTI).[5]

After several renovations and expansions, the Salvator Hospital grew to become one of Limburg's largest private hospitals. A new convent building was completed in 1949 and a new wing of the hospital in 1950. From 1962 to 1964, the buildings of the new clinic were constructed.

In 1974, a retirement home for 150 senior citizens was also opened on the Salvator Hospital campus. A student peda was also built behind the old castle park and pond. Since 1994, the new monastery complex behind it has provided a residential and care center for dementia and Alzheimer's patients. The complex includes a public chapel, a residence and rest home for the Salvatorian community of sisters and a rest home for the White Sisters of Africa.[6]

In 1996, the Salvator Hospital merged with the Saint-Ursula Hospital in Herk-de-Stad.[7]

In January 2001, the Saint-Francis Hospital of Heusden-Zolder and the hospitals AZ Salvator-Saint-Ursula with campuses in Hasselt and Herk-de-Stad announced that they had concluded a merger agreement and would henceforth be called the Christian General Hospital Mid-Limburg (Dutch: Christelijk Algemeen Ziekenhuis Midden-Limburg or C.A.Z. Midden-Limburg). According to then chairman Karel Peeters, the C.A.Z. Midden-Limburg would become the second largest hospital in the province of Limburg in 2001. With the merger, the capacity would be over 663 beds, 1,200 employees and 160 physician-specialists.[8] Later, in 2009, the merger with the Saint-Francis Hospital was dissolved and the hospital reverted back to the name of Salvator-Saint-Ursula (SASU) Hospital.[7][1] In January 2010, the SASU Hospital merged with the Virga Jessa Hospital to form today's Jessa Hospital.[1][2]

The Saint-Ursula Hospital was founded in the 1950s by the Ursulines of the Ursuline Convent in Herk-de-Stad, after the convent had already served as a Red Cross post during both World War I and World War II.[9] In 1996, the hospital merged with the Salvator Hospital in Hasselt to form the Salvator-Saint-Ursula Hospital (SASU).[2] After the merger with the Salvator Hospital, the hospital began to focus more and more on rehabilitation.[9]

The main entrance to the Virga Jesse campus of the Jessa Hospital.

On May 28, 1626, three nuns moved into a building on Hasselt's Thonissen Avenue to care for the sick of Hasselt and the surrounding area. The building was a gift from the city magistrate, but soon proved too small. Without realizing it, the three nuns lay the foundation of what will be a large and modern hospital almost four hundred years later.

In 1868, construction begins for a new hospital along the Thonissen Avenue. The Valentinus Hospital opens its doors 4 years later. The Valentinus Hospital slowly expanded to a total of 140 beds. However, even this capacity soon proved insufficient.[10]

The first postwar Commission of Public Assistance (the predecessor of the OCMW) took office in 1947 and immediately made the decision in principle to build a new hospital. On September 23, 1961, then-Mayor Bollen opened the Virga Jesse Hospital. The new hospital is dedicated to Our Lady Virga Jesse, the patroness of Hasselt. In 1965 the construction of two additional 7-story wings began so that the total bed capacity expanded to over 600 beds.[4][11]

From the 1990s, the hospital evolved rapidly. On March 17, 1995, the Limburg Oncological Center (LOC) officially opened its doors in the hospital's new L-wing. The LOC was founded three years earlier as a cancer cooperation initiative between the Salvator Hospital of Hasselt, the Saint Jans Hospital in Genk (now Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg) and the Virga Jesse Hospital.

In the year 2000, the Virga Jesse Hospital spun off from the OCMW and became an autonomous care institution. The highest managing body of the hospital is no longer the OCMW council, but rather a general assembly and a board of directors, including a representation of the political parties. The hospital builds numerous partnerships with other hospitals.[10]

On June 20, 2006, the Virga Jesse Hospital together with the Salvator-Saint-Ursula Hospital (SASU) signed a draft agreement to merge. The merger has been a reality since January 1, 2010.[1][2]

The Jessa Hospital submitted a subsidy dossier to the Flemish Government in March 2013 for the construction of a new hospital on the current Salvator campus. The dossier for the new building was co-developed by a temporary association consisting of four partner architects: Osar, Baumschlager & Eberle, Technum and De Gregorio. The design will be a hospital with two 20-story towers against the E313 highway in Hasselt. From the towers, patients and visitors to the hospital will have a view of Haspengouw on one side and a new park on the Salvator Campus that runs down to Hasselt's major ring road. If financing for the project is complete, work on the new building will begin in 2023 and should be completed in 2030. The cost of the new building is estimated at 550 million euros, of which about 370 million euros will come in subsidies from the Flemish Government.[12][13][14]