 While in Germany, William Passavant met Pastor Theodore Fliedner who had opened a hospital and training school for deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, near Düsseldorf and the Basse family's traditional estates.At Passavant's request, in 1849, Fliedner brought four German deaconesses to Pittsburgh to work in the Pittsburgh Infirmary (later Passavant Hospital and merging with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center).Especially after his Continental tour, William Passavant became known for addressing important social issues