Šilutė Hospital

The first hospital in Šilute district was opened in Rusnė in 1837. At the end of the 19th century, this 10-bed hospital was moved to Šilutė and located in the territory of one of its former villages – Žibai , the current Aukštaičių Street. The building did not survive. The history of the current Šilutė hospital began when on February 12, 1891, the County Council of Šilokarčema (now Šilutė) decided to build a new hospital and allocated 50,000 marks for its construction. The landowner Hugo Scheu donated the plot of land for the construction. In 1892, on the left bank of the Šyša River, near the Rusnė highway, a brick hospital building was erected (currently 1 Rusnė St.). The construction of the hospital cost 57,000 marks and its inventory – 4,800 marks. The new hospital had 30 beds, two operating rooms, an X-ray, and a kitchen. In 1907, natural gas lighting was introduced. In 1919, Erich Scheu, a son of landowner H. Scheu, was appointed as the head of the hospital and the county doctor.

Thanks to his efforts, the hospital was expanded and modernized. In 1920, a 20-bed wooden Infectious Diseases Department was built, which was connected to a new 30-bed building in 1923. The electric lighting was introduced. In the basement of the hospital, there was a public bathhouse with showers, bathtubs, and mud baths.  Patients came for treatment not only from Šilutė and Pagėgiai counties, but also from Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). 2 doctors and 3-4 nurses were employed, they were assisted by so-called deaconesses, members of the women’s evangelical organization; and trained tenders.

In autumn of 1944, as the war front approached the German border, the Šilute hospital was closed. Its staff, together with the patients and local residents, were evacuated to Germany.

At the beginning  1945, doctor Janina Juraškienė moved from Panevėžys to Šilutė, and was appointed as the Head of the Health Department of the Šilutė District Executive Committee. She started reorganizing health care in the county. At that time, the hospital employed 3 doctors, 12 nurses, and had 50 beds. In 1949, a children’s tuberculosis sanatorium with 100 beds was opened beside the hospital. Joana Milukienė was appointed  the Head of this department. In 1961, the sanatorium was moved to the former children’s shelter of the Catholic parish of Šilute and operated there until November 2004.

In 1968, a two-story Department of Infectious Diseases, in 1976, a separate building for the sanatorium and epidemiology inspectorate (currently the Public Health Center) and in 1977, buildings of the polyclinic and the Maternity Department were built. In 1997, the reorganization of the Šilute hospital began. The primary health care institutions were separated. In the same year, the public enterprise the Šilutė hospital was registered in the municipality of the Šilutė district.