The young couple went to Iran in 1878. Upon their arrival in Urmia they surveyed the medical and health needs of the community and found the existing small health clinic, which was working under the auspices of the Iranian Red Lion and Sun Society, inadequate. On Joseph's earnest request, the Board of Assyrian Missionary purchased a 15-hectare garden which was soon to become the site of a 100-bed hospital, named "Westminster Hospital", after the church in Buffalo, N.Y. that was the vehicle for supporting Dr. Cochran's work. The building of this hospital was completed within one year from its original planning and the hospital opened its doors in 1879.