Nestled near the foot of North Mountain in Phoenix’s Sunnyslope community, the HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center celebrated 70 years of serving the community in December (submitted photo).

Helen Lincoln was a survivor. And wise. And a maverick. And she got stuff done.

Just drive over to 3rd Street and Dunlap and you’ll see it for yourself.

HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center celebrates its 70th birthday this year. Founded as John C. Lincoln Hospital, the medical center was Helen’s dream for the Sunnyslope community.

The hospital went from dream to reality one afternoon when Helen was frustrated with community leaders who had joined her on the Desert Mission board.

Helen and her husband, John C. Lincoln, had moved to Phoenix on the advice of her doctors back East. Like many early Phoenicians, Helen had a lung condition that benefited from the dry desert air. The “tubercular camps” on the “sunny slopes of mountains north of Phoenix” were populated with families who traveled here only to find few resources to help them heal and raise their kids. Many lived in tents.

Helen saw them and she wasted no time in sharing what she could. She raised Nubian goats, known for their nutritious milk that kids with allergies could drink. She brought milk and food and clothing to the sunny slopes.

“She’d load up the family station wagon with whatever she could round up, including her own and neighbor kids,” remembered her son, David Lincoln, who has since died. Some of those she “rounded up” helped her start what is now known as the Desert Mission Food Bank.

But back to that day when she hatched a plan that was to change thousands of lives in North Central Phoenix for the better. Her carefully written diary revealed a plan. She had called a meeting of the Desert Mission board and no one showed up except her. She had planned to present her dream to the board members, with the argument that “this community not only needs a food bank, but also a hospital.”

Helen wrote that she left the one-woman “board meeting” and found a “flat rock on which to sit and think.” Helen didn’t waste any time with frustration or disappointment in her colleagues. She simply went home and called all the errant board members, telling them what had transpired at the “meeting” they had missed. She led them to believe that the “board” had voted to raise money and build a hospital for the Sunnyslope community. They all agreed (maybe guiltily) to do their part, and they did.

John C. Lincoln, Helen’s husband, listened to her plan and said, “I’ll donate the land and support it, but you have to promise you won’t name it after me.”

One has to believe that Helen readily agreed, tucking that request away with a chuckle, then went about the business of marshalling support in the business community. The new hospital was opened and christened John C. Lincoln Hospital.

“We were known as the food bank with a hospital, not the other way around,” said Dan Coleman, long-time chief executive officer of “John C.,” as the hospital is still fondly known.

Residents of North Central Phoenix and Sunnyslope watched as their community hospital grew and won awards for state-of-the-art medical, surgical and nursing care as well as for its often unique community services tailored to meet the needs of people in the area.

The school partnerships, adult day care, onsite children’s care and preschool for employees, children’s dental clinic, food bank and neighborhood re-development with affordable housing and local shopping shined a light on what was once a depressed area of Phoenix.

A Great Dane wearing a tutu led a squad of pet therapists to bedsides and brought healing smiles to families and their sick and injured loved ones. A Christmas tree lighting, complete with a princess and Santa, marked the holidays in Sunnyslope for many years.

Even the traditionally maligned “hospital cafeteria” got into the spirit. Long-time North Central residents Melody Beloff and her friends and family made the hospital cafeteria a tradition for many years.

“We’d go there for holiday dinners – amazing food and hospitality! Thanksgiving and Christmas at John C.’s cafeteria have always been really special. They pull out all the stops in the kitchen, making delicious holiday foods, and decorate the dining room better than anything we had at home,” she remembered.

How many now-grown Phoenix residents were born there? How many trauma patients were brought there by ground and air ambulance crews and met by dedicated and highly skilled nursing and medical staff? How many chaplains prayed with patients, family members and staff? How many volunteers delivered flowers and books and get well wishes to the sick and injured there?

Today “John C.” is part of the HonorHealth organization, a comprehensive network of hospitals, clinics and health services across the north and east Valley. HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center celebrated its 70th birthday on Dec. 20, featuring visits with those who built it from a food bank into a food bank with a hospital.

The Great Dane has passed on, as have many of the early builders of the community many still know as “John C.” But they planted seeds and tended them with care until they grew deep roots in the heart of Sunnyslope. Did they make a difference?

“A big thumbs up,” said Beloff, a school nurse who heads for “John C.” when she needs emergency care as well as for holiday meals.  “I feel at home there. And the care has always been the best in town.”

Author

  • Trudy Thompson Shumaker

    Trudy Thompson Rice is a registered nurse and public affairs professional. She holds degrees in Journalism and Nursing from the University of Texas, and is licensed in Arizona as an RN. She is an officer in the Arizona Information Officers' Association, is a graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy and is past president of Phoenix International Association of Business Communicators.

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