The first four sisters of the Santa Catarina Congregation arrived in Brazil on May 18th, 1897. The Congregation was founded in Germany in 1552 by Soror Regina. She abandoned the comforts of her home and her family to dedicate herself to caring for sick people and to educating youngsters, creating the First Congregation of the Catholic Church with an active life. The sisters settled in Petrópolis where they founded the Santa Catarina School. In 1915 the nurse sisters nurse came to Rio de Janeiro and worked on the São Francisco de Paula Hospital for the following six years. Afterwards, the sisters decided to rent a house on Carlota Street in order to attend the poor. In order to improve the quality of care, they decided to found their own hospital in 1922. They took a loan and bought a property on 21 Macedo Sobrinho Street. The Casa de Saúde São José was inaugurated in 1923. Casa de Saúde São José has a total area of more than 625 sq miles and a complete infrastructure to support medical care. Obstetrics Patients - 28 rooms with 5 adjoining living rooms Surgical patients - 107 rooms with 5 adjoning living rooms Nursery - 40 beds ICU - 19 beds Coronary Care Unit - 22 beds Unidade Coronáriana - 11 beds Day Clinic - 11 beds Cardiac Emergency - 5 beds Semi- Intensive Unit - 11 beds Hemodynamics Unit Blood Donation Unit Accreditations : ONA III e Canadian (ACSC)