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Description

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About Erlanger
Erlanger is a nonprofit academic teaching center affiliated with the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Erlanger is also a LevelOne Trauma Center for adults and the only provider of tertiary care services for the citizens of an entire fourstate region encompassing southeast Tennessee north Georgia north Alabama and western North Carolina With a history that dates back more than a century Erlanger is recognized as one of the nations finest public hospitals and a leader in healthcare

Each year more than a quarter of a million people are treated by the team of healthcare professionals who are part of Erlanger

Our Healthcare Mission
To deliver excellence in medical care to improve the health status of our region while providing vital services to those in need and training to health professionals through affiliation with academic partners

Our Healthcare Vision
Erlanger will lead as a comprehensive provider of acute care and ambulatory health services offering a system of care that delivers value in terms of quality cost effectiveness customer service teaching and research directed at improving the health of our community and region

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History

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Erlangers History
For more than a century Erlanger has been central to the lives of generations of Chattanooga familieswhere their children were born where they found the latest treatments for injury and disease and where the majority of the regions doctors and nurses were trained

Erlanger was founded through the generosity of a French nobleman in 1889 Baron Frederic Emile dErlanger who held financial interests in a number of railroads in this region donated 5000 for a new hospital In todays dollars this donation would equal more than 4 million

Appreciative citizens named the hospital for the Barons beautiful Southern wife Baroness Marguerite Mathilde Slidell The cornerstone for the Baroness Erlanger Hospital was laid in 1891 In 1899 the 50000 hospital opened with 72 beds

Soon after its opening Erlanger formed one of the states first nursing schools and developed a partnership with Chattanooga Medical College now the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Erlanger greeted the 20th century as an academic teaching facility a distinction the hospital maintains today Nurses and nursing technicians are trained at Erlanger in conjunction with UTC Chattanooga State and other regional colleges and doctors are trained through an affiliation with the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga Unit

By 1940 the hospital had doubled in size and opened the areas first center for cancer treatment and the Erlanger Cancer Center remains a leader in serving the region today The regions first openheart surgery was performed at Erlanger in 1960 and the prevention diagnosis and treatment of heart disease became and continues as a core service

Erlanger has always led the region in maternity care and now offers two delivery locations The East Campus on Gunbarrel Road is designed for lowrisk patients while the Baroness Campus downtown offers comprehensive care including the regions only tertiary Level III care center for highrisk obstetrics

The areas first kidney transplant was performed at Erlanger in the 1980s and the service is still available only through the Erlanger Kidney Center The 1980s also brought facial reconstructive expertise to Erlanger resulting in the Tennessee Craniofacial Center an international leader in this field Other distinctions include a wide array of Intensive Care Units the regions only Emergency Heart and Stroke Center and Burn Center the Miller Eye Center and the Erlanger Medical Mall

T C Thompson Childrens Hospital founded as separate facility in 1929 became part of Erlanger and moved to the Baroness Campus in 1975 A Comprehensive Regional Pediatric Center the highest designation in the state Childrens Hospital has physicians in virtually every pediatric subspecialty The Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provides the regions highest level of care for premature and sick infants

With the regions only Level I Trauma Center and the regions only air ambulance LIFE FORCE Erlanger can deliver lifesaving treatment as quickly as possible The hospital serves patients from 50 counties within a 150mile radius

Today Erlanger encompasses five campusesNorth EastWomens East Bledsoe and the Baroness campus in downtown Chattanooga that includes the campus of Childrens Hospital The system runs two community health centers Southside and Dodson Avenue

The downtown Erlanger campus was rededicated in 2002 as the Baroness Campus with a nod to the institutions long history But sights are set on the 21st century and a continued commitment to healing teaching and leading