Norwegian American Hospital (NAH): 2007 – 2008

Norwegian American Hospital staff pose with new Digital Stress Echocardiogram machine made possible through Washington Square Health Foundation funding.

Norwegian American Hospital (NAH) is located in Chicago’s Humboldt Park community.  The NAH scope of service includes inpatient acute care, emergency care, diagnostic services and primary care in a 200-bed hospital and full-service professional office building.

For more than a century NAH has maintained a dynamic presence in Chicago’s Humboldt Park community, keeping pace with advances in health care and responding to the community’s changing needs.

NAH was established in 1894 by a group of community volunteers from Humboldt Park’s predominantly Norwegian population and began providing health care services to newly arrived Scandinavian immigrants.  Over time and as the community changed, the objective of NAH has remained focused on providing high-quality, affordable and culturally-appropriate health care services.  Currently, many NAH patients are under or uninsured and NAH relies on assistance in order to be able to continue to provide health care services for the community.

NAH received a generous grant from the Washington Square Health Foundation which allowed them to purchase a new Digital Stress Echocardiogram machine.  This grant made it possible for NAH to replace their outdated VHS echocardiogram equipment and integrate a new digital system with the current NAH Information System, allowing access and integration with the Electronic Medical Records System.  In addition, cardiologists now have a greater ability to better diagnose testing through digital technology which will provide clearer results, easier access and eliminate an obsolete storage method.