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Last week, GBMC lost an inspiring and visionary leader. Mrs. Jeanne H. Baetjer, one of GBMC’s founders, passed away at the age of 91 years. What a legacy she left behind. Mrs. Baetjer was a true leader in every sense of the word. Her strong sense of community was quite evident in her life’s work, which included her vision for the development of a community hospital in Towson.
In 1958, while serving as President of the Hospital of the Women of Maryland, of Baltimore City, Mrs. Baetjer and other community leaders saw the need for a hospital in this area and set out to work on making this vision a reality. This was no small feat as the creation of GBMC entailed combining The Hospital for the Women of Maryland, of Baltimore City (Women’s Hospital) with the Presbyterian Eye, Ear, and Throat Charity Hospital. But, her tenacity and dedication to filling a greater community need paved the way for the establishment of our hospital, and from 1962 to 1965, while building was underway, Mrs. Baetjer oversaw the massive project. Her commitment to GBMC spanned five decades and she served in various roles in our history including the very first President of the Board of Trustees.
Since GBMC first opened its doors to the community in 1965, we have cared for countless individuals and we are forever grateful for Mrs. Baetjer’s vision and dedication. Her impact on GBMC and the community is immeasurable and far reaching. To this day, GBMC embraces her guiding principle that the patient always comes first– through our current Vision of “to every patient, every time, we will provide the care that we would want for our own loved ones.”
Please join me in honoring her life and legacy by sharing your memories and thoughts about Mrs. Baetjer with our blog community.
I was surprised and disappointed to see nothing in the Baltimore Sun about her, other than the standard obit. Her life and life's work deserved celebrating. In the day and age where women were expected to stay home, clean house and have babies, she was ahead of her time and it's truly amazing that she was able to "play with the big boys" and accomplish her goal - the creation of this hospital. Rest in peace, Mrs. Baetjer. You've earned it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous. Hopefully you saw the half page ad that we put in the Sun to honor Mrs. Baetjer and her legacy. We have been in dialgue with the Sun since the day of her passing to get an obituary done. Unfortunately, we cannot dictate to the Sun what they need to do.
DeleteUnfortunately I did not see the ad but happily noted a lovely article about her in the Sun on Sunday. You're right, we can't dictate when the paper covers a story, but timeliness is important - particularly since the funeral was on Saturday.
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