Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center is a 729-bed continuing-care facility with a multitude of special care units, as well as two large outpatient clinics. As a member of the Catholic Health Care System, we are committed to the belief that life is sacred and worthy of appropriate medical support and rehabilitative services.

The Center's staff respects the dignity of every human being and recognizes each individual's potential to live as independently as possible. We provide unique approaches to the care and treatment of our residents and patients, and serve the elderly, people with developmental disabilities, and those who live with chronic illness; people of all races, creeds, economic means and ethnic backgrounds.

The Center's tradition of providing compassionate medical treatment began in 1890 with its predecessor institution, Flower Free Surgical Hospital, then associated with New York Medical College. In 1938, Flower Hospital and New York Medical College merged with Fifth Avenue Hospital at the Center's present site on Fifth Avenue and 106th Street.

When New York Medical College moved to Valhalla in 1978, Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital redirected its acute care mission to become a center of diversified healthcare under the auspices of the Archdiocese of New York.

The Center provides a home and dignified lifestyle for those who live with chronic illnesses -- the elderly, severely disabled children, and people with AIDS, Alzheimer's, Huntington's Disease, or kidney failure.

In 1984, the hospital was renamed Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center in memory of New York's beloved Archbishop, whose vision continues as the Center's guiding light.

Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center continues to evolve to meet the needs of a changing population. In 1989, the Center opened a discrete unit for people with AIDS - the first of its kind in New York State. Within four years the program grew to its current size of 156 beds, and continues as one of the largest programs in the state.

answered a need when, at the request of John Cardinal O'Connor, it opened a 24-bed unit dedicated to caring for people with Huntington's Disease. In 1997, to accommodate the growing number of Huntington's patients in need of care, the unit doubled in size. It remains the only one of its kind in New York State, and welcomes residents from around the country.

A special Cognitive Care Unit was designated for individuals who suffer from Alzheimer's Disease or dementia in 1996, and in 1997 a 28-bed Subacute Transitional Care Unit opened for the care of stabilized hospital patients who no longer require hospitalization but are not yet well enough to return to their homes.