Hospital zum Heiligen Geist

Johann von Broichhausen established the Hospital zum Heiligen Geist foundation in 1390, initially sheltering the poor, the needy, and travelers. His sons renewed the foundation in 1410, and papal confirmation followed in 1411. The official founding date is considered to be 24 July 1421, when Elector and Archbishop Dietrich of Cologne confirmed the foundation; the original charter is kept in the Kempen city archive.

For centuries the institution served primarily social functions as a home for the poor and a hospice. A new building constructed in 1801 on orders of the French prefect turned it into a regular hospital, and in 1917 it moved to its present site in Kempen with 130 beds at the time. Postwar decades brought successive modernizations of wards, surgery, emergency care, and radiology.

A major building phase between 1996 and 2003 added aseptic operating theaters, an outpatient department, intensive care, and early rehabilitation. Under Artemed's ownership since 2012, the hospital has added specialized units including pain therapy, vein surgery, a stroke and neuro center, a heart catheter lab, and most recently a continence and pelvic floor center. In 2025, urology became one of the first departments to introduce robotic-assisted surgery using the da Vinci system.

The hospital covers general, trauma, spinal, vein, dermatologic, and visceral surgery, anesthesia, intensive and emergency medicine, plus a central emergency department. Further specialties include endocrinology and diabetology, gastroenterology, gynecology and obstetrics, ENT, cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, pain therapy, and urology, along with a dedicated pelvic floor center.

Since 2012 the hospital has taken part in benchmarking by the German Hernia Society. It holds certifications as a geriatric trauma and local trauma center, an EndoCert joint replacement center, and a chronic wound care center, alongside cardiology, stroke unit, and hypertension center certifications earned between 2023 and 2024. Since 2025 it holds Silver status in Patient Blood Management.