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Just eight months after receiving its first patients, Saint Francis is rocked by the devastating San Francisco Earthquake. The Hospital building on Mission Street is destroyed by fire, with staff relocating patients by railcar to the deserted Heywood Mansion in San Mateo and then to two private homes in San Francisco as plans are made to rebuild.

The Saint Francis Foundation hosts the first Hob Nob on the Hill, a mainstay of San Francisco’s holiday season founded by Foundation donor and board member Bella Farrow. The event is conceived following the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake to galvanize community support for the Hospital’s patient and crisis services.

The Foundation launches a $4.7 million capital campaign to expand and renovate the Bothin Burn Center.

Catholic Healthcare West changes its name to Dignity Health as part of a system-wide governance restructuring.

With Foundation support, the Hospital opens the first COVID-19 Critical Care Unit in San Francisco. The Foundation allocates funding to the Hospital throughout the pandemic, including providing needs-based grants to 150 employees suffering from financial hardship.

In response to evolving surgical innovations, the Foundation funds the first da Vinci® XI robot for minimally invasive robotic surgeries.

The Hospital builds the East Wing on Bush Street, adding facilities for an in-patient psychiatric unit and devoting space for the renowned Bothin Burn Center, today the largest dedicated burn center in Northern California serving more than 500 patients each year.

The expansion and refurbishment of the Gwendolyn Walsh Emergency Department — made possible through a Foundation gift of $11 million — nearly doubles capacity at the City’s second busiest emergency room serving more than 30,000 patients a year, and enables expanded expertise in heart, neurology, orthopedics, and surgery services.

The new Bothin Burn Center opens, doubling the size of the world-renowned burn care and rehabilitation center and funding equipment to integrate outpatient treatment at the Hospital. Foundation donor Lisa Nash makes a major gift to create the Center’s Nash Family Day Room, a fully equipped relaxation area for burn unit patients and their visitors.

The Foundation embarks on the Project 84 capital campaign, ultimately raising more than $3.5 million for Hospital renovations and improvements. The campaign results in new surgical pre- and post-operative care areas, a larger Bothin Burn Center, and the new Psychiatric Unit.

Noted physicians Jean Haddad, Gerry Gary and Hugh Vincent establish the Saint Francis Foundation, converting the Hospital’s endowment fund into an independent, physician-led charitable organization. The new Foundation enlists an esteemed group of Bay Area business leaders and philanthropists to support its mission. Since 1979, the Saint Francis Foundation has provided more than $90 million in vital funding for programs and services that benefit Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and the communities it serves.