The city of Rochester, New York is widely recognized as a leader in the photo imaging industry, but little is known of Rochester’s contribution to the advancement of the medical field. The city’s reputation as a leader in the medical field goes back to 1856 when St. Mary’s Hospital opened on West Main Street. By 1900, Rochester hosted many prominent hospitals such as the City Hospital, later named Rochester General Hospital, Rochester Homeopathic Hospital which later became the Genesee Hospital, Hahnemann Hospital that later became Highland Hospital, and St. Mary’s Hospital. Many smaller hospitals would emerge during this period such as the Lee Private Hospital. The Rochester community became an important area in the practice and advancement of homeopathic medicine. One of Rochester’s leading homeopathic physicians was John Mallory Lee, a renowned surgeon and a leading figure in Rochester medicine. Dr. Lee established the Lee Private Hospital on the corner of Lake and Jones Avenues on January 8, 1898. For the next seventy-three years, this hospital would embody the virtues of commitment to medicine and service to the community from Dr. Lee and his family and under his successor, Charles C. Teresi M.D. as the Lake Avenue Hospital.
Both Doctors Lee and Teresi were innovators in their medical practices. Dr. Lee gained recognition for his work with nuclear medicine for the treatment of cancer. Dr. Teresi’s own personal experiences would endear him to the many ethnic communities in Rochester by his compassion and unwavering commitment. The ornate building, would endure through the economic hardships of the depression, endeavor through the war years and adapt to the ever-changing advancements in medical technology. The story of this unique institution ended in the summer of 1975 with the building’s demolition, but its legacy remains in the memories of the people whose lives were improved by the hospital at 179 Lake Avenue.
Dr. John Lee purchased the property at 179 Lake Avenue on November 11, 1897. At the center of the property was a large three story brick Victorian style home on the west side of Lake Avenue, just north of Jones Avenue. The west side of the property housed a two-story carriage house and adjoining stable that accessed Dempsey Place. Lee spent $26,000 to outfit the building as a surgical hospital. The main entrance on the first floor led into the large reception room and then to several private offices. Adjoining the reception room was the first floor library and the operating room. The second floor held additional patient rooms and a second library. The third floor offered beds for twenty-eight patients and private quarters for the resident physicians and staff.
The hospital opened with seven beds, but by December 1898, had increased to twenty-five beds. The building was expanded in 1903, increasing the bed space to fifty-one. This expansion accommodated the increase in patients resulting from Lee’s decision to broaden the hospital’s scope to include obstetrical, maternity, and general medical care.
One major innovation of the hospital was its treatment of cancer with an early form of nuclear medicine. In August 1922, a radium emanation plant and therapeutic deep therapy X-ray equipment was installed in the hospital. Dr. Lee’s close association with Dr. G. Faill, a renowned physicist of the Memorial Hospital in New York City who had spearheaded the treatment of malignant tumors with the use of radium and deep therapy X-ray, led to the purchase and installation of the equipment. This equipment was the first of its kind in Rochester and only one of twelve in service in the nation.
Radium therapy, the most advanced cancer treatment available in the 1920s, consisted of destroying cancerous cells by injecting radium emanation into the tumor followed by the use of deep therapy x-ray waves to destroy any remaining cancerous cells. As a last resort, surgery would remove any remaining diseased tissue. Radium treatment required the use of small glass tubes called Capillaries to the inject radium emanation into the tumors. Dr. Lee developed the capillaries, and by the mid-1920s, they were in use nationwide. Dr. Lee’s commitment to the community and deep personal sense of compassion led him to open the only free radium clinic in Rochester. The clinic was open on Fridays to anyone needing the treatment. Quite often patients did not require surgery, which allowed the individuals to continue their normal routines. When hospital stays were required, patients only paid “for the bed and hospital expenses, and not for the care by physicians.”
Dr. Lee utilized deep therapy X-ray as both an alternative and a supplement to radium treatment. Where the radiation wavelengths of the radium were short and most effective in treating specific smaller areas around the tumors, the X-ray waves were longer and could affect a larger surface area. Commenting in a local newspaper article, Dr. Lee explained the advantage of this new technology:
The day will come when the surgeon cannot conscientiously recommend the knife [surgery] in cases where he formally did. In certain cases, I still would recommend an operation, supplementing this form of surgery with radiation. The combined methods make it, in my opinion, complete surgery. These poor people who come here diseased are entitled to the best treatment to be had.
The application of this early form of nuclear medicine symbolized a bold and innovative advancement for such a small private hospital.
The 1940s and the early 1950s saw the Lake Avenue Hospital endure the hardships of the War years and adapt to the changing needs of the community. Dr. Teresi's converted the hospital’s large two story former nurses’ quarters into an overflow ward. This ward led to the expansion of the hospital services into geriatric care. From 1951 until the closing of the hospital in 1962, geriatric health care would be a substantial part of the hospital’s medical services and financial viability.
The end for the Lake Avenue Hospital would come in the fall of 1961. Doctor Teresi fell ill on Thanksgiving Day and was admitted to The Genesee Hospital with acute stomach pains. He had suffered from stomach ulcers for a great many years, which prompted his post-graduate training in Gastroenterology. Charles Carmello Teresi passed away on 13 December 1961, at the age of 67 from a chronic duodenal ulcer and pyloric obstruction.
The remaining principle officers of 179 Lake Avenue Inc. transferred the property and equipment to Geri-Care, Inc. on February 1, 1963. The hospital would continue as the Charles Nursing home but never again embody the vitality and character of its past service to the community.
Rising Medicaid rates coupled with the multiplying cases of fraud prompted increased scrutiny and the tightening of restrictions by state and federal authorities over the management of nursing homes. By 1965, the facility had changed its name to the Elms Nursing home. Rising costs, aggressive competition, and constant advances in health care technology would become the Achilles heel for many smaller nursing homes. The Elms Nursing home closed in 1971. The buildings at 179 Lake Avenue remained vacant until their demolition.
As a homeopathic physician, Lee discouraged the use of drugs, especially coal tar based drugs such as aspirin, phenacetin, and acetanalid. The underlying principle of homeopathy was “like is cured by like.” The homeopathic method of treatment is based on the practice of administering minute doses of a remedy that in healthy persons would produce symptoms similar to those of the disease being treated. The human body’s natural systems of disease defense would combat the disease or ailment, providing a natural curative reaction. The homeopathic physician believed that therapeutic drugs, such as pain relievers, did little good and the best remedy was the body’s natural ability to repair itself.
After his family, the hospital and his patients became the center of Dr. Teresi’s life. One of his medical innovations came to be informally known as “The Patients’ Club.” It was an association of his patients that, in effect, became a forerunner to medical insurance. Charles Teresi’s grandnephew, Francis H. Allenza, compared it to what we know now as a modern Health Management Organization. “Patients would pay the Doctor pre-determined payments as insurance for medical coverage.” As the receptionist at the hospital from 1958 until 1960, Mrs. Robert (Patricia) Allen remembers, “His patients adored Dr. Teresi.” Quite often, Dr. Teresi would take care of whole neighborhoods of families. Mrs. Allen recalled how generous the Doctor was with his family, staff, and patients. Many times when cash was low, patients would bring fresh breads, flowers, and foods to Dr. Teresi and he would accept those gifts as payment for his services. The hospital’s staff included several members of Dr. Teresi’s family.
Over the three decades that Teresi managed the hospital, four family members worked with him at the hospital. His younger sister Caroline was the first to join him at the hospital in 1928, serving as the bookkeeper after graduating from the University of Rochester. Dr. Teresi’s nephew, Francis J. Allenza, would become a key element in the hospital’s success by serving as the chief administrator. Patricia Allen remembers Francis as an excellent administrator and recalls, “The hospital could not have run without Mr. Allenza. He kept the administrative and business affairs running smoothly.” Francis’ sister, Theresa Allen served for many years as the hospital’s bookkeeper. Harold Teresi was the hospital’s attorney and he served on the board of 179 Lake Avenue, Inc. The hospital’s thirty-four year service to Rochester embodied the strong bond of love and support shared by the Teresi family. The virtue of loyalty and commitment that embodied Charles’ family relationships would be reflected in the Doctor’s dedication to his career and devotion to his patients.
On 31 March 1975, Geri-Care Inc. transferred the property to the EMA Holding Company. The Rochester Fire Department responded to the address on August 13, 1975, where a small fire had started while workers were dismantling the building. The property would remain empty for four years. In July 1979, the property was sold to the Rochester Automobile Dealers Association. Today, the modern brick office building rising high off the street at 179 Lake Avenue is Paradigm Environmental.
The Lee Private Hospital’s original stable became the resident’s garage at 10 Jones Avenue. Jagged remnants of the northwest wall from the old Nurses’ quarters and the Decarr Supervised Boarding Home still remain, protruding out from the garage’s east wall. The property seems much too small to have been the center of so much history.
From 1898 until 1971, the hospital at 179 Lake Avenue became a center of community service in Northwest Rochester. Dr. Lee’s commitment to the community, service to his patients, and contribution to the advancement of the treatment of cancer were remarkable. The use of nuclear medicine and x-ray technology no doubt saved many lives that otherwise might not have survived. With the opening of the free radium treatment clinic on Fridays, Dr. Lee demonstrated his commitment to his community and his strong conviction that regardless of wealth or social status, all people deserved the best medical care possible.
Doctor Charles Teresi followed Dr. Lee’s example of community service by his life-long devotion to his hospital and its patients that would come to represent an expression of his love for his country and his family, and commitment to his community. Teresi’s personal commitment to care for his family would be reflected to his patients by the hospital’s later geriatric focus. The hospital, in its later years, became a place where the elderly lived their final years. With the Doctor’s death in 1961, the hospital continued to serve the community as the Elms Nursing home. The hospital’s demolition in 1975 ended its legacy of service to the Rochester community. However, the memory of the hospital’s contribution to Rochester lives on in the personal memories and photographs of the Hospital at 179 Lake Avenue.
The 1920s saw a decline in the number private hospitals due to the high cost of improving technology and governmental regulation. Dr. Lee’s advancing age and the changes in the medical field spelled the eventual demise of his hospital. Dr. Lee’s death on January 12, 1926 was a tremendous loss to the hospital staff. John Lee’s courage, strength, and visionary leadership left an irreplaceable void. Dr. Lee’s wife, Carrie, carried on as Director of the hospital after his death. By the fall of 1927, the executors of Lee’s will decided to sell the property. It was their hope that Dr. Lee’s work would continue.
Dr. Charles C. Teresi had been a member of the visiting staff while maintaining his own practice at 413 North Street in Rochester. Teresi purchased the hospital on October 1, 1927 and changed the name to the Lake Avenue Hospital. As a life-long bachelor, Charles Teresi would devote the remainder of his life working at the hospital in the service to his family and patients.
The hospital would prosper for the next few years, but the looming clouds of the approaching financial crisis would soon blow the winds of change, forcing the Lake Avenue Hospital to adapt to the challenging conditions of the Great Depression.
On 30 March 1932, the Rochester Trust and Safe Deposit Company foreclosed on Teresi’s mortgage. Although Teresi had lost legal custody of the property, he refused to vacate and continued his practice. The property was eventually sold to Frank Pisciotta in August 1939.
Twelve years later, on November 27, 1951, Harold Teresi, Francis J. Allenza, and Joseph R. Paprocki formed the company 179 Lake Avenue Inc. and within one month, had bought back the hospital from Frank Pisciotta. The next ten years would be the most productive years of the hospital. Doctor Teresi’s steadfast dedication to the hospital and his patients and his financial resourcefulness allowed him to remain on the premises from its debut in 1928 until his death in 1961.
The Doctor enjoyed the respect and patronage of a large private practice. His immigrant background endeared him to many members of Rochester’s large Italian-American community. The values of loyalty, dedication to his family, and commitment to the community would prove to be Dr. Teresi’s lasting legacy.
The hospital’s primary focus was as a surgical hospital and a training school for homeopathic nurses. The two-year training program would later be extended to three years to provide the students hands on training in the community. The hospital’s staff of physicians provided weekly lectures and weekly quizzes and quarterly exams rounded out the academic course work.
The students’ twelve-hour workday centered on their academic studies and intensive clinical training in the patient wards. The student Nurses received a salary of nine dollars per month for the first year and eleven for the second. With the curriculum extended to three years, the salary became standardized at ten dollars per month. Five student Nurses graduated in the first class in 1900. The last graduating ceremonies would take place in 1926.
