A Work Of Charity

The first leper hospital in the United States was the Louisiana Leper Home in Carville, Louisiana, founded in 1894 by an act of the Louisiana State legislature. The patients were cared for by members of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and its first resident physician was Dr. Elihu Morgan Hooper. The seven cottages accommodated 25 patients. In 1921, the home was purchased by the federal government and put under the auspices of the U.S. Public Health Service. It reopened on this date in 1921 as the United States Marine Hospital or the National Leper Home and had more than 300 residents.