OSF St. Joseph Medical Center is a 149-bed Level II trauma center hospital complex in Bloomington, Illinois

Bloomington, Illinois

Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...

, and is part of the OSF Healthcare System.

St. Joseph Hospital accepted its first patient on . The original hospital was a two-story brick mansion on Jackson Street. The current site on East Washington Street was opened in the 1960s.

Among the hospital's claims of firsts in central Illinois

Central Illinois

Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central section of the state, divided in thirds from north to south. It is an area of mostly flat prairie. The western section was originally part of the Military Tract of 1812 and forms the distinctive western...

 were the first successful Caesarian section birth; the 1929 first blood transfusion

Blood transfusion

Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...

; first successful radiation therapy

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy , radiation oncology, or radiotherapy , sometimes abbreviated to XRT or DXT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells.Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control...

 in the 1940s; the 1990 first open heart surgery

Open Heart Surgery

Open Heart Surgery was released on August 8, 2000 by rock band Virginwool. The band signed to Breaking/Atlantic Records after initially beginning signed to Universal Records. The album was produced and mixed by Brad Wood....

; and first "beating heart surgery", in which the heart is not stopped, in 2000.