Perspectives: The Impact of the Closure of Normandy Osteopathic Hospital on the surrounding community

A spring 2022 oral history project of University of Missouri-St. Louis Doctoral students: Kiley Bednar, Erica Henderson, Andrea Jackson Jennings, and Patricia Zahn

Built in 1952, the Normandy Osteopathic Hospital, located in Normandy, Missouri, provided healthcare service and was a gathering place in the community for almost 50 years. It opened with just 67 beds, and a little over a decade later more than doubled in capacity. By 1990, the hospital had grown to 188 beds and offered emergency room, surgical, ICU-Telemetry, physical therapy, rehabilitation, and skilled nursing services. In addition, it was a post-graduate training institution for osteopathic interns and residents. Normandy Hospital ultimately closed in January 2000 and the building was subsequently purchased by the University of Missouri- St. Louis. In 2007, the structure was demolished.

Unlike other well-researched hospitals that closed, like Homer G. Phillips Hospital in the City of St. Louis, there is very little information readily available on the Normandy Osteopathic Hospital and how the closure affected the community. The ten people who share their personal recollections of the hospital through their oral histories have provided a better understanding of what the hospital meant to the people of Normandy and the surrounding communities; the efforts taken to keep the hospital open; and the after-effects of its closure. These stories give depth and meaning that a list of dates and services cannot provide. They give a human-side to historical events with engaging anecdotes that elicit emotions ranging from joy to sadness, and bitterness to hope.

The following ten people took part in this oral history project.  Click a name to hear their story.