DOCTORS MEMORIAL HISTORY
1957
Present
On Sunday, September 2, 1957,
despite a scorching hot afternoon, a crowd estimated to be between 1000 and
1200 endured the heat and bright sun to attend the dedication ceremonies at
Doctors Memorial Hospital.
Declan O'Grady, County Attorney and Master of
Ceremonies told of the beginnings of the hospital, saying that it was but a
dream in the minds of a number of public spirited citizens who were
determined that this community should have a hospital.
But first estimates
and first bids indicated that the cost would far exceed all the moneys then
available. However there were
two men who knew what to do about it, Paul K. Honey and Lee Wakeman, of the
Buckeye Cellulose Corporation.
They took the original estimates and trimmed them so that a building could
be erected, furnished and kept within the limits of all available funds.
Their plans were quickly adopted and following this the County
Commissioners appointed a special committee called the Taylor County
Hospital Corporation, of which Mr. Honey was President.
Mr. Honey told of the struggles
of the Corporation. He likened
himself to a freight train engineer saying a vast amount of freight had been
loaded and unloaded during all the time the planning and construction of the
hospital was ongoing. He noted
that the Federal Government bore half the costs by utilizing Hill-Burton
Public Law No. 725 and told the hospital had been completed with a
substantial amount of money
left over with which to start operations. He then turned the keys to the
hospital over to the County Commissioners and Commission Chairman, who
turned the keys over to the Hospital Administrator who would henceforth be in full and direct
control of the operations and business end of the hospital.
Can you imagine the excitement in
1957 for a community who stood out from the surrounding communities to think
Perry had a hospital! The
doctors who had been practicing out of their offices and making house calls
finally had a hospital.
There was Dr. John Parker, who
came home to practice; Dr. John Dyal, General Surgeon with an office over
O'Quinn Drug Store; Dr. C.R. Wiley, new comer to Perry at the time; Dr. R.J.
Greene, senior practicing physician in 1957 and Dr. Walter J. Baker, whose
office was in Foley near Buckeye.
These were the heroes of medicine for Taylor County during those
times. However a few short
years after this, Dr. T. Conrad Williams, Dr. James A. Rawls and Dr. Hoyt
Horne came to join this hardworking group of physicians.
It didn't take long before
Doctors Memorial needed more bed space.
An expansion project was completed
in 1960, adding 26 beds.
DMH operated this facility until 1969 when a replacement
facility was built in search for even more additional space and to meet new
code compliance standards.
The original hospital was used
for ancillary services until tragedy struck in 1972.
A fire of unknown cause happened about 9:00 pm one evening which
caused considerable damage, however a portion of this facility was saved and
it housed several hospital departments until the move to our new facility at
Byron Butler Parkway.
There were a lot of interesting
times at the two story Ash Street facility.
Upon retirement of Mr. Arnold, who had been Administrator for 20
years, Gary Muller was appointed CEO, followed by Keith Gilles, and Mark Van
Fleet (see CEO pictures at bottom of page). Tallahassee Memorial Hospital
began to manage the hospital in 1983.
Mr. Bill Anderson and Mr. Bob Bell were administrators while
Tallahassee was in charge. After
about 8 years, Tallahassee Memorial pulled their support and transferred the
remainder of their lease over to Crest Medical Services on May 15, 1991, who
failed in their attempt to run the hospital and their contract was cancelled
May 15, 1992 and the county took back control of the hospital.
During this time of adversity, two of DMH physicians, Dr.
Miles Nelson and Dr. Joel Shugar worked feverishly as well
as hospital employees, who went 2 weeks without pay. Many local
organizations made donations of money and food.
There was an outpouring of help from the entire community.
When it was determined that the present facility was too outdated to be
remodeled or expanded and history began to repeat itself.
A few more community minded citizens, Board of Directors and elected
officials once again determined the need for a new hospital and the
Community responded by passing a 1 Cent sales tax by overwhelming majority
(73%) to pay for the building.
The CEO, Board of Trustees, Commissioners, City
Council, architects worked to build this beautiful facility we are in today.
On April 10, 2003 DMH held a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, Open House and
Dedication, with numerous dignitary and hundreds in in attendance, at the
new 96,000 square foot facility on N. Byron Butler Parkway. The moved
was completed in May 2003, making new history and providing new services to
Taylor County.
New 64 Slice CT Scanner
New Digital Mammography
New State of the Art Laboratory
Bone Density
With over 50 years of dedicated service, DMH is going strong
with plans for
the future.
Click here to see 50 Years at DMH
Photo Gallery
