20. Every birth that takes place at Swedish — and there have been more than 200,000 of them — is a
remarkable event. But the 1935 arrival of David Ishii is quite another story.
Sadly, his mother died in childbirth, and David’s father was ill equipped to take care of a newborn. So,
Mr. Ishii made arrangements with Swedish to care for his new son while he took his six other children to
Japan where relatives could look after them.
What was supposed to be a brief absence turned into 31/2 years. So David grew up at Swedish with a
whole team of mothers — all dressed in starched white uniforms.
To this day, David remembers accompanying Swedish’s founder, Dr. Nils Johanson, around the halls of
the hospital. And he faintly recalls a birthday party the nurses threw for him.
It was and is the Swedish way to do whatever it takes to make patients feel at home — even if it actually is your home.
Watch 100 stories about Swedish’s 100 years at www.swedish.org/100years
Thousands of babies
have been born at Swedish.
But only one went on to
live there for 31/2 years.