Celebrating 60 years of caring for our community

A message from Blake Kretz, FACHE, president; James H. Sammons, Jr., M.D., FACOG, FACHE, chief medical officer; and Lori J. Donovan, M.S.N., R.N., NEA-BC, chief nursing officer:

The year was 1958. Dwight Eisenhower was president. Elvis Presley was King. A gallon of gas was 25 cents and the median cost for a home in Texas was $35,200.

But for the people of Arlington, 1958 marked the opening of Arlington Memorial Hospital (AMH), as it was known to the community at the time, after three years of community fundraising and a generous donation of land from the Vandergriff family. People flocked to the hospital immediately with 17 babies born in the first week, and patients were treated for everything from pneumonia to appendicitis. And for the last 60 years, we have continued to partner with the Arlington community for a lifetime of health and well-being.

While every person we have touched or served, whether patient, family member or employee, over the last 60 years has by far been our greatest accomplishment, we have also been fortunate enough to celebrate, along with our community, many other milestones, including:

1958: Formal opening of Arlington Memorial Hospital’s 72-bed facility.

1965: Arlington Memorial Hospital established a school to train licensed vocational nurses. The one-year program included 600 hours of classroom work and 1200 hours of clinical experience. The first students would join the nursing staff after graduating the following year.

1971: The first electroencephalogram (EEG) unit was installed.

1972: G. C. Waldrop Center for Cardio-Vascular Disease opens.

1976: AMH breaks new ground and expands the facility with advanced technology including an outpatient surgery area and 40-bed medical-surgical nursing unit.

1978: AMH receives CT scanner, one of two in the county.

1990: AMH Health Services Center opens at 810 West Randol Mill Road to support expanding outpatient services such as Rehab, Mammography and Education.

1992: The Women’s & Children’s Center forms the centerpiece as the campus continues to expand, responding to the growth of the Arlington community.

1997: Arlington Memorial Hospital joins with other area hospitals to become Texas Health Resources, then and now the largest health care provider in the Metroplex.

1998 – Health Services Center is renamed the Rex C. McRae Health Services Center in honor of Mr. McRae’s influence, direction and leadership as hospital president for three of the four decades the hospital had been in existence.

2002: Addition of two floors for new ICU and laboratory space.

2003: Arlington Memorial Hospital opens advanced cardiac surgical suites in the heart pavilion.

2007:  The Tom Vandergriff Surgical Tower opens.

2009: The hospital is renamed Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital.

2013: The Breast Center earns national accreditation and improves services with 3-D mammography.

2014: Texas Health Arlington Memorial begins offering inpatient behavioral health services for not only adults but adolescents as well, one of only three facilities in the region to care for these younger patients.

2014: Texas Health Arlington Memorial earns Magnet Recognition® – only 8 percent of U.S. hospitals to have earned this honor, highest and most prestigious distinction a healthcare organization can receive for nursing excellence and high-quality patient care. This recognition continues today.

2015: Texas Health Arlington Memorial launches Final Salute program to honor military veterans that have passed away at the hospital.

2016: Hyperbaric and Wound Care Program established at Texas Health Arlington Memorial, moving from simple wound healing to focus on limb salvage.

2016: Texas Health Arlington Memorial adds new Lung Cancer Screening Program, working to detect lung cancers in high-risk patients at an earlier stage.

2017: Increasing our chaplaincy, the hospital gains a second chaplain and opens the greatly expanded Dan Dipert Family Chapel.

2017: Texas Health Sports Medicine Program, a department of the hospital opens at a location in South Arlington.

2018: Texas Health Arlington Memorial’s neonatal intensive care unit is the first in Arlington to receive the Level III NICU designation — acknowledging our success in caring for the small and sick infants.

Since the beginning, the hospital has been active in the community, supporting many worthwhile organizations such as Mission Arlington and the Arlington Life Shelter, among others. Texas Health Arlington Memorial has a rich legacy in this community. We look forward to working with all of you as we continue to improve the health of the people in the communities we serve and guide our hospital into the next 60 years of health care.

by Brand Experience Communications  •Posted October 12, 2018