Scott Memorial Hospital is preparing to celebrate 50 Years of Service to the residents of the Scott & Jackson County area. The hospital officially opened in December of 1959 with 34 beds, 12 bassinets, a complete operating room, delivery facilities and laboratory departments.
The hospital will host a 50th birthday party on Sunday, October 4, that will showcase a newly completed $6.5 million Surgical Services Wing that is bigger than the original hospital.
The hospital began as the dream of the Scottsburg Business and Professional Women’s Club, whose members enlisted the aid of the local Lion’s Club to secure Federal assistance, start a fund drive, and to help pass a local referendum for a $200,000 bond issue. The hospital has enjoyed continuous growth since then, including more than $15 million of new and renovated space so far this decade.
An editorial at the time in the Scott County Journal called the new hospital “a command post in our battle to better the lives of thousands of Scott Countians.” The health care battles at that time were against Tuberculosis and a lack of childhood immunizations. Today, Scott Memorial Hospital has joined forces with the Scott County Health Department to wage war against another healthcare threat, the pandemic H1N1 Flu.
The Surgery Open House and 50th Birthday party will be held inside the entrance of the new surgery wing and extend into the interior courtyard created by construction project. The event will feature gifts, door prizes, refreshments, music and the opportunity to see some areas of the new surgery wing.
Certain sterile areas such as the operating rooms cannot be opened to pubic tours, but team members will be available to answer questions and there will be photos of the closed areas.
Most of the festivities will take place in the interior courtyard created by the new construction project. A key element of the project design was a clinical hallway that goes directly from the surgery area to the Womenís Center to allow faster transport of Cesarean Section births and other obstetrics surgeries. It was that hallway that created the interior courtyard. Plans are under way for the hospital High-5 Team to coordinate the courtyard landscaping by various departments within the hospital. Plans also allow for a memory tree in a key location there.
The 50th Birthday Party will feature Orthopedic Surgeon Suresh Kasaraneni, M.D, and other members of the medical staff, who will be available for questions during the event.
Total space for this Surgery project was 24,466 square foot, which included 4,500 square foot of existing space that was renovated. By comparison, the original hospital construction in 1959 was 20,000 square foot. The addition that was completed in 2004 added 13,000 square foot of new space, with 17,000 square feet of renovated space to the hospital. Twice within this decade, Scott Memorial Hospital has completed additions that were bigger than the original hospital built in 1959.
The total cost of the project was $6.5 million, with a $750,000 budget for state-of-the-art equipment for two high-tech operating rooms set up for both general surgery and orthopedics. There are also five post-anesthia care units with ten private pre/post op rooms.
The Surgery Open House and Scott Memorial Hospital 50th Birthday party will be held in the Scott Memorial Hospital Surgical Services Wing on Sunday, October 4, from 1-3 p.m. There will be music, refreshments, door prizes, gifts, a birthday cake and the opportunity to speak with medical professionals.
