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Description

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About Hennepin County Medical Center
Hennepin Healthcare System Inc operates Hennepin County Medical Center in downtown Minneapolis and primary care clinics in Minneapolis on East Lake Street and in the Whittier Neighborhood and in the suburban communities of Brooklyn Center Brooklyn Park and Richfield as well as retail clinics in the Walmart stores in Bloomington and Eden Prairie

Hennepin County Medical Center is
Minnesotas premier Level 1 Adult Trauma Center and Level 1 Pediatric Trauma
Center with many nationally recognized programs and specialties

A recognized system of primary care clinics and retail clinics located
throughout Hennepin County

An essential teaching hospital for doctors who go on to practice throughout
the state

A safety net hospital providing care for lowincome the uninsured and
vulnerable populations and

A major employer and economic engine in Hennepin County

Our Mission
We are committed
To provide the best possible care to every patient we serve today

To search for new ways to improve the care we will provide tomorrow

To educate health care providers for the future and

To ensure access to healthcare for all

Our Vision
We are committed to being
The best place to receive care

The best place to give care and

The best place to work and learn

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History

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Our History
What is today Hennepin County Medical Center began in 1887 as City Hospital In 1964 Hennepin County assumed ownership of the hospital After local voters approved a 25 million dollar bond issue in 1969 a new hospital facility was completed in 1976 Also that year Hennepin started sharing some services with the adjacent Metropolitan Medical Center When that hospital closed in 1991 Hennepin County Medical Center purchased its buildings

Our history includes a series of firsts in the metro area services or programs started to meet community needs that others were unable provide A few of these are

History of Hennepin County Medical Center
1887
Minneapolis City Hospital opens Dec 1 in a rented house at 724 11th Ave S City physician James Henry Dunn is appointed superintendent Daily cost is 89 cents

1891
City Hospital opens a free dispensary Outpatient Department in City Hall
Board of Charities and Corrections assumes management

1893
City Hospital moves to the farm of former mayor George A Brackett The Brackett farm included a nine room brick house and three framed houses large enough for wards of twenty patients plus thirteen rooms for private patient care The farm was purchased by the city for 100000 and was located on the block bounded by what are now Portland and Park Aves Fifth and Sixth Street

School of Nursing is established Period of study was oneandahalf years

1894
Tents are erected on hospital lawn for 20 victims of typhoid epidemic With the new hospital full 22 patients are sent to St Marys and Northwestern hospitals at city expense

The first ambulance horse and driver is rented at cost of 150 per run In 1900 a driver will be hired and a horse purchased

1895
Dispensary moves from City Hall to the stable on the hospital grounds

1896
Patients are turned away due to lack of room

1901
East Wing with 200 beds is built for 75000

1902
The first telephone is installed Up to the mid70s no phones were located in the wards Only one central telephone was located in the hallway at the supervisors desk This phone sent and received messages for the entire stations services

1903
Pathology Department is established and the first laboratory opened The course of study for student nurses was lengthened to 3 years

1908
The entrance to City Hospital as well as the interior lobby was impressive The front steps lead to the arched front door Above the door was a large
decoration featuring a caduceus topped by a winged angel The interior lobby had marble wainscoting and marble pillars and steps

The Administration Building opens Besides the administrator it contains housing for nurses interns and an emergency operating room

In the early 1900s staff was not required to wear masks or gloves during a surgical procedure

The Xray Department is established

The Drug room was located in a small room in the basement The outer wall was unfinished and the foundation boulders were visible

1909
Outpatient clinic opened in the East Wing basement

1910
Typhoid epidemic hospitalizes 222 Until 1912 hospital overflow is housed in rented Marcy School

1911
Electric ambulance is purchased

1912
Hopewell a branch hospital with 100 beds for tuberculosis patients opens in CamdenNurses Home built eight stories tall

1913
Hospital is approved by the American College of Surgeons

West Wing construction began will be finished in 1915

First dietician is employed By the 1920s there were three kitchens one for staff one for patients on a regular diet and one for special diets Doctors and Nurses had separate dining rooms and were served different food this changed in the 1940s Cost per meal was less than 20 cents

1914
Scarlet fever and diphtheria epidemics hospitalize 846 Construction of the Contagion Building begins

Pediatric Contagion established as a separate service no longer under the Department of Medicine Social Services Department established the first in Minnesota Lymanhurst a branch hospital for children opens at 18th and Chicago The building will later house the Sister Kenny Institute for the treatment of polio

1916
Total beds are now 900 Classes for Xray training and laboratory training are offered by City Hospital and the University of Minnesota Two nurses were sent to Providence Rhode Island to acquire the Pasteur technique of nursing contagious diseases in preparation for the opening of the contagion building at MGH in 1917

1918
Contagion Building opens for patients

suffering from diphtheria typhoid scarlet fever and pneumonia One thousand fifteen are hospitalized during influenza epidemic

All infectious disease cases were admitted there There was a separate morgue and chapel to care for any deaths Prior to this there had been a quotPest Hospitalquot in St Louis Park to care for infectious disease patients It opened in 1881 and closed in 1918

1920
Minneapolis City Hospital is renamed Minneapolis General Hospital and placed under new management the Minneapolis Board of Public Welfare

1921
Medical residency program begins no pay until 1930 General Hospital receives a class A rating from American College of Surgeons School of Nursing ceases in favor of University of Minnesota program

1922
George Fahr MD who worked with Einthoven in Holland to perfect the EKG teaches staff at General how to make their own Fahr will serve as chief of Medicine from 1925 to 1950 General Hospital is approved by American Hospital Association

Dentistry Clinic gets its first Xray equipment

1923
Minneapolis Public Library sends a parttime librarian to provide books for patients

1924
Female medical interns are accepted Edith Potter and Eunice Hilberts
externe MGH is the last hospital in the city to do so

1926
Minneapolis Grand Jury reports that even with 700 beds General Hospital space is inadequate

1927
When a new class of student nurses started graduate nurses were hired to provide patient care When the new group was assigned to floor duty the graduate nurses were laid off and the students provided patient care

1928
Patient records are cataloged for the first time Medical Records Department is created

1929
Overflow patients are sent to other hospitals cost to city is 41000 The Psychiatry Department begins diagnostic clinic

1930
The Contagion Building is renamed the Annex Wards were opened to general diseases All of the patients with infectious diseases went to the city hospital

Next to the morgue there was a chapel where funeral services were held The MGH Xray technician training program was considered the best program offered in the Twin Cities 1931 School of Medical Technology is established

1932
Myrtle Hodgkins Coe becomes the first clinical nursing instructor at MGH City planners present plan for new hospital quotample to the needs of the community for several centuriesquot 23 stories high facing Portland Avenue

1933
The first librarian is hired working 20 hours per week for room and board Professionals unemployed during the depression admitted patients then called a quothigher typequotwere serious voracious readers requiring assistance from the Minneapolis Public Library Federal government relief dollars thru the CWA depression program allowed MGH to hire paid graduate nurses purpose to provide patient care and supervise student nurses

1934
Norman Hotel is secured for nurses due to lack of housing space

1935
School of Xray Technique later School of Radiological Technique is established

1936
The MGH Medical Record Department is rated as the best maintained in America

1937
Medical staff view motion picture quotBirth of a Babyquot and deemed it too controversial to show patients a birth control clinic is unanimously opposed Instructors in surgical and pediatric nursing are hired

1938
Occupational Therapy begins

The Emergency department is placed under the surgery department and staffed with Interns

1939
Psychiatric Inpatient service is established Adeline Schmitz RN organizes the first Central Supply Room
The operating room gets its first autoclave

Instruments no longer have to be soaked in the operating room using antiseptic solutions It was not until 1965 when CSR was able to sterilize instruments for all patient areas and the ER

1940
Sister Elizabeth Kenny lectures at General and University of Minnesota Hospitals MGH is the only hospital anywhere to allow her to demonstrate her hot packing technique for treating polio

Martha Lundgaard CRNA was hired at MGH as a staff nurse anesthetist

She was actively involved in the School for Nurse Anesthetists at MGH and later organized the School of Anesthesia at Northwestern Hospital In 1988
she received the Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in
the Field of Nurse Anesthesia

1941
Alfred Eisenstaedt photographs the life of an intern at General Hospital for Life magazine

Ambulance runs to the city jail were frequent and interns provided medical care when needed The photograher accompanied interns on these ambulance runs

Life magazine photos are displayed in the HCMC museum

During World War II Dr Wesley Burnham accepted a commission in the army medical corps He was chief of Orthopaedics in the 3000bed hospital in New Guinea caring for the South Pacific battle casualties

Later Dr Burnham will go on to serve on the HCMC teaching staff and treat patients in the Orthopaedic Department for 50 years

1942
Seventythree MGH nurses enter military service

1943
President Franklin Roosevelt an advocate of nursing strongly supports the Bolton Nurse Training Act which Congress enacts establishing the Cadet Nurse Corp It was a free threeyear training program funded by the Federal Government The program drew 179000 enrollees During the war Minneapolis General Hospital had student nurses on its many patient wards with minimal supervision

1944
Penicillin is available but can only be ordered by chief of staff

1945
Nurses Residence is renamed Harrington Hall in honor of Francis Harrington MD MGH superintendent 193739 and 194244 Harrington promoted changes in tuberculosis treatment that resulted in lower death rates Five floors are also added to the building to house the large numbers of students enrolled in the US Cadet Nurse Corp students of MGH and the U of M nurses who staffed the wards at General Hospital during World War II During World War II the majority of the graduate nurses left MGH to join the military

1946
MGH adds 1000 people to the staff during a polio epidemic Fifty patients were admitted daily and 30 iron lung respirators were in use at one time

1947
General Hospital School of Nursing is reestablished with a threeyear program Mrs Emilie Magdanz RN is director Christine Furman MD begins the School of Nurse Anesthetists at MGH Her students achieved the highest scores in the nation on national board exams in 1951 Ward secretaries are hired for nursing stations

1949
The Annex is expanded the eightstory addition adds two elevators large enough for iron lungs

1950
First males admitted to the MGH School of Nursing

1951
First nonMD superintendent is hired Kenneth J Holmquist

Medical Director position is created and filled by Thomas Lowry MD

Inpatient and outpatient charts are combined under a single numbering system

1955
As the ethnic make up changes in the Twin Cities area Georgia Nobles RN director

of Nursing institutes the interpreter system Interpreter Services now require 64 interpreters at a cost of 21 million dollars to make sure adequate health care is not lost in translation

An explosion at Cargill Oil Extraction plant injures 14 10 of whom are admitted to MGH

1956
A fire starting in a Christmas tree at Doctors Memorial Hospital Eitel Hospital results in the death of eight patients and evacuation of the rest of the patients many of whom are admitted to MGH

1958
Frederick Hoffbauer MD is hired as Chief of Medicine a position he will hold until 1965

William Jepson MD is hired as chief of Psychiatry a position he will hold until 1990

The Medical Research Laboratory is built between Harrington Hall and the Annex Medical research begins in the laboratory in 1959 The Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation is the parent organization of the Regional Kidney Disease Program which has achieved an international reputation for its clinical and research programs It is recognized for developing the first kidney dialysis program in Minnesota performing the first kidney transplant in the Midwest and performing the first bilateral lung transplant in the world

PAR Post Anesthesia Recovery opens adjacent to the OR where patients will be monitored until responsive and stable As in the past postoperative patients were returned to the crowded patient wards immediately after surgery

1959
Service League is incorporated Eleanor Pillsbury invites 50 downtown leaders to lunch kicking off a drive to save General HospitalVi Conn a member of the Board of Public Welfare was one of the founders of the Service League She will serve as an active member including president and 23 years as treasurer until 1994

GH heat was provided by 5 water tube boilers which were fueled by coal until this year Now 3 were converted to gas with oil as the standby fuel This was the first year that the hospital was able to have full operation of the AC alternating current power supply Conversion from DC direct current to AC eliminated many irritating electrical problems

The old equipment was replaced with excellent electrical equipment this included the electric gastric suction machine which replaced the old three bottle water gastric suction WANGENSTEEN

1960
A group led by Claude Hitchcock MD begins studying atherosclerosis and organ transplants using baboons as subjects

John Dumas 19591963 MGH hospital administrator was influential in protecting the survival of the county hospital The state legislature approved the transfer of MGH from Minneapolis to Hennepin County during his administration He worked closely with the city and county board reaching out to prominent persons in the community for support of a new hospital Due to his efforts the Minneapolis Tribune printed numerous special issues eg the Robert Smith series of articles and pictures about services provided by a public hospital

1961
Chaplaincy is created under Rev Lloyd Beebe

The Clinical Lab is relocated to a remodeled patient area Minneapolis and Hennepin County Mental Health Clinic is established An Xray film processing machine replaces darkroom The Drug Room name changed to Pharmacy in 1962 Unit dosage was started

1962
Service League installs the General Store Mary Croll is hired as the first Service League director She will serve for 33 years

Personnel Department is established with Bill Calguire as Personnel Officer who completely changed the hiring process Prior to Calguire MGH applicants completed an application at Minneapolis Civil Service office

1963
Hospital operations transfer to County because counties are now major units
for administering public assistance With expectations and support from HCGH administration staff became more involved with responsibilities beyond MGH hospital walls as a teaching unit for first health care providers

George Nass director of Safety amp Security organizes the first training course sponsored by the Minnesota Committee on Trauma The course was held twice a year from 19631975

Paul J Vogt hospital administrator had a great interest in emergency and ambulance services

The delivery of emergency care began to change and Vogt is given much credit for early years of planning and accomplishments for these changes

Addressograph equipment installed Patients now are issued plastic cards replacing paper ones

The first kidney transplant in the central United States is performed by Claude Hitchcock MD on February 13th Five days later the kidney was rejected and the patient died When the next transplant rejected the doctors went to Seattle where they were using a quotSweden Freezerquot dialysis machine A machine was shipped to MGH and the patient was placed on Hemodialysis Barb Little RN operates the first portable dialysis machine at MGH

John Jeffers RN began working in the Dialysis Unit in 1963 He is now a Kidney Dialysis Nurse Practitioner and continues to work with dialysis patients at HCMC

1964
Minneapolis General Hospital becomes Hennepin County General Hospital

Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation begins kidney dialysis At left is Dr Fred Shapiro Medical Director of the HCGH Dialysis Unit pictured along with HCGH intern Dr Per Wickstrom

A fivebed unit opened in the HCGH ward in 1966 that included the dialysis equipment at the bedside


A separate automatic pumping machine mixed the dialysis fluid and pumped it into the individual machines An alarm was sounded if the mix was incorrect

The Minnesota Legislature replaced the county coroner system with the Medical Examiner turning the position over to a qualified physician A new larger morgue complete with air conditioning and other improvements was opened in the hospital

The Hyperbaric Chamber is completed and opened Robert Mick veteran of 21 years in the submarine service hired as first technician to run the hyperbaric pressure chamber

Barb Little RN was the first RN to assist with surgical procedures in the Hyperbaric Chamber

Nursing Administration is separated into two sections Jane Phillips RN is in charge of inpatient nursing and Olive Lenberg RN is in charge of Admissions Emergency Department AED

The dietary department was remodeled and the food continued to be brought to the station in heated carts By the 1970s complete meals were placed on individual trays and transported by large metal food carts

1965
Richard B Raile MD Chief of Pediatrics since 1953 is named HCMC medical director and Alvin L Schultz MD is appointed Chief of Medicine

Myrtle Coe RN developed a course for training OR technicians at HCGH This is just one of her many accomplishments She was an innovator in the training of nurses and became known nationally and internationally as a leader in nursing

1966
A fourbed Coronary Care Unit is opened under the nursing leadership of Donna Hoover RN Medical Nursing Supervisor It is the first such unit in the region

The Cardiac Cath lab is also opened with A M Richards MD as medical director and Jan Roberts RN as the first nurse she served in the hospitals cath lab for 28 years

The Department of Dentistry and the Unversity of Minnesota worked out an affiliation agreement between the U of M and Hennepin County General Hospital The affiliation included additional clinical experience in the outpatient clinic and the emergency room which allowed the rotating students immediate involvement in oral emergencies

Dr Norman Holte would become the first oral surgeon on the HCGH staff in 1969

Mary Shaw is hired to develop the Nuclear Medicine Department Mary became director of Medical Imaging and was on staff for 34 years The Respiratory Therapy Department is begun with Robert Rothrum in charge

1967
The phone operators at left were located in Harrington Hall which was the dorm where the student nurses resided The phone operators would also work on occasion at the Information Desk also in Harrington Hall where they had many and varied responsibilities Special side note Ruth Olson celebrated her 50th year of working at HCMC in 2003

Extended Care is offered to patients at certain nursing homes

The Suicide Prevention hotline is established the first in Minnesota Pictured Olive quotLindyquot Lenberg RN answers the Suicide Prevention Hotline which was located in the HCGH Emergency Department

Jane Armstrong became the editor of the employee newsletter It was called the General Pulse The first hospital newsletter was called quotThe Open Woundquot and published in 1933

sixarticle series on General Hospital the quotCountys Problem Childquot was printed in the Minneapolis Tribune It focused on the question of what would happen if HCGH were abandoned and how well other area hospitals could or would take over its vital functions The series was written by Victor Cohn

1968
Neonatology ICU opens under the direction of Martha Strickland MD and Julie Boran RN A 12bed Surgical Intensive Care Unit SICU opens with Marge Bergman RN as supervisor Bergman will serve in that capacity until 1996 The Medical Intensive Care Unit MICU and Coronary Care Unit CCU open with Donna Hoover RN supervisor Hoover will serve until 1978 A Pediatric ICU opens with two beds Connie Benson RN is assigned as Pediatric supervisor and retires in 2003 Richard Baker MD and Audrey Kuhne RN develop the first standardized crash cart used in the hospital

Booz Allen Hamilton along with the citizens hospital advisory committee developed a communications plan regarding the need for a new Hennepin County hospital

1969
Bond issue of 25 million for a new hospital is approved 10to1

First computer is installed a Raytheon 703 for lab analysis Medical Records goes to microfilm Bioelectronics Department opens

Robert TenBensel MD develops a child abuse treatment program that draws
national attention

A nursing plan for stabilizing the critical admissions was initiated under the direction of Hillie Prose RN director of Emergency Nursing ER nurses will be trained in the care of critical patients to accompany critically ill patients to the inpatient stations treatment rooms and stay with them until they are stabilized A oneyear trial is to begin in 1970 In 1971 a room within the emergency department was designated for the care of the critical patient This was the beginning and the development of the Stabilization Room the future level one Nursing contribution to its establishment has long been recognized

1970
A threebed Neurology ICU opens Marilyn Olsen RN and Ronald Cranford MD were responsible for the planning

Janet Kaehler RN and Donna Hoover RN teach CCU classes to the nursing staff

The Family Practice Building is erected in front of the main entrance on 5th St The School of Nuclear Technology is established HASTE Helicopter Ambulance Service to Emergencies experiment begins and lasts one year

Kidney transported from Boston patient to HCMC patient in Minnesotas first computer match through organ registry at UCLA

1971
Bond election for additional 18 million is defeated 3to1 In six days representatives of Hennepin County General Hospital and Metropolitan Medical Center negotiate a plan to share services

Ernest Ruiz MD is appointed Chief of Service Emergency Medicine Ramon Gustilo MD Orthopaedics is named chief of OrthopaedicsThe Crisis Intervention Center opens largely through the efforts of Zigfrids Stelmachers PhD

The NurseMidwife Unit the first in the city opens under

the direction of Margaret Hewitt CNM and Donald Freeman MD Margaret Hewitt was instrumental in establishing the first inhospital Midwife unit

Frank DeMello MD is HCGHs first epidemiologist With many clinical infection reports showing significant pathogens on crowded obstetric and surgery wards this required constant surveillance from the infection committee In 1979 Jeanne Pfeiffer RN will become the first nurse epidemiologist Photo of Dad and New Baby

The Ombudsman program begins with Nate Williams A new state law decriminalized intoxication making it illegal to jail individuals for drunkenness A Detoxification Center is approved by the Hennepin County Board Daniel Hertsgaard is named director Audrey Logdson RN clinical coordinator

1972
Under the leadership of hospital administration construction begins on the new hospital Staff members from all hospital services actively participate with building plans

HCGHHCMC Administrator Bill Kreykes was involved in developing shared services plans with private hospital Metropolitan Medical Center and later with the plans for construction and move to the new HCMC facility

Tom Mattison 1971 Associate Administrator devoted his fulltime efforts to the planning

and development of the new hospital He was the administrator for HCMC from 19771984

The Poison Control Center opens with Alice Lange in charge In 1974 the center will hire Tony Manoguerra PharmD

In 1975 Alice wrote the book quotFriends and Foes in the Plant Worldquot which was used and is still to date used by Poison Centers though out the US

1973
Dr Ernest Ruiz Director of Emergency Services develops the Emergency Medicine physician training programThe Red Door Clinic opens to provide service for socially transmitted diseases

Audrey Kuhne RN hospital complex night supervisor for many years transfers to the ER to become the first Stabilization Room supervisor

1974
Hennepin County General Hospital School of Nursing closes Name is changed to Hennepin County Medical Center

HCMC is named one of four regional emergency centers by the Metropolitan Council Triage begins in the ER developed by April Estes RN
Sexual Assault Protocol is developed by a multidisciplinary task force

Paramedic training program begins Forty General Hospital Ambulance drivers EMTS attend the advanced training program Instructors were Dr Pat Lilja and Dr Robert Long who were emergency physicians and Marti Brieter RN and Sandi Ford RN who were emergency nurses

Computers are installed in the ER eliminating

the familiar green sheet which was the most important patient record prior to computerizationJoe Patterson Admitting supervisor changes the registration procedures

1975
Intern Training 1975

Roger Fredrichs Resident and Dr Wickstrom

Sixweek advanced training course for emergency room nurses sponsored by the University of Minnesota School of Nursing begins at HCMC The course is initiated by Hillie Prose RN Director of Emergency Nursing Clinical training to practice emergency theories was provided by six participating hospitals The MNA Board of Directors selected Hillie Prose to be recognized at the national level for her leadership and accomplishments in the area of continuing education for emergency nursingworking with both professional and consumer groups

HCMC clinical instructor is Audrey Kuhne RN for the emergency nursing training course

BlakeNorthrup Schools program to provide students with HCMC clinical emergency training begins Richart Teien from the ER staff was responsible for student scheduling and supervision The program achieves national recognition

1976
HCMC moves to new Park Avenue address

HCMCs Burn Center provides care and treatment for all patients with burns in a central location The entire staff has since been actively involved in community outreach and education

The stabilization room now provides care in two wellequipped units

1977
The Sexual Assault Resource Service SARS is developed at HCMC by Linda Ledray RN PhD One of the
first Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs in the world the SARS model has been replicated in every
state in the US and in many foreign countries as well Under Ledrays direction SARS was responsible
for the founding of the International Association of Forensic Nurses in Minneapolis in 1992 SARS
provides complete care to all victims of sexual assault including care and documentation of injuries
assessment and prevention of STDs crisis intervention and supportive care and collection of forensic evidence SARS works closely with law enforcement crime labs courts and prosecutors and advocates to provide evidencebased stateoftheart care to all Hennepin County residents

Neurology creates Huntingtons Disease Clinic Echocardiography is introduced Aphasia Center receives largest medical grant in history of the National Institutes of Health 115 million

quotThe Generalquot a halfhour film about General Hospital written and directed by Tim Rumsey MD is completed In 1978 it received the highest award given by the District 4 International Association of Business Communicators

Alexa Canady MD who will become the first female AfricanAmerican neurosurgeon in the United States oes her Neurosurgery residency at University of Minnesota Hospitals including JulyDecember at HCMC

1978
The Post Coronary Rehabilitation Center PCRC opens

JoAnn Champagne is the first female paramedic hired by the HCMC Ambulance Service

1979
Balloon catheterization is introduced HCMC is now one of 10 hospitals in US that offers a procedure for clearing arteries ER installs teletype for phone conversations with the hearing impaired Lorraine Rivera Social Services is named HCMCs first Indian Advocate

Bryn Mawr Nursing Home fire brings 28 to ER

Fasttrack surgery is developed for multiple trauma patients

A permanent nursing station staffed by HCMC nurses opens at the Hennepin County Jail Audrey Logsdon RN nursing coordinator and Milton Bullock MD set up the unit The first staff RNs were Bill Boardman Dorothy Maleck Dottie Harvey and Vivi Dumas who had the most critical care experience and taught the others physical assessment

1980
Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center is established

Mossman Pager beeper system is set up reducing overhead announcing

Fullbody CT scanner is obtained and shared with MMC

Carol Holm Valentine director of Medical Records spends three months in Jubail Saudi Arabia as part of a team setting up a hospital

April Estes becomes Director of Nurses at Pilot City Health Center which is a extension of HCMC

1981
Crisis Intervention Center establishes Crisis Home Program

HCMC holds fifth anniversary celebration of move into new facility

1983
Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center becomes the only accredited sleep center in Minnesota Hennepin Faculty Associates HFA the practice plan for physicians of HCMC is established HCMC Clinical Labs computer goes on line Medical Center admits its first AIDS patient Hospitality Program to enhance guest relations begins

HCMC Biomedical Ethics Committee is featured on the CBS Evening News
HCMC and MMC install a new heat recovery system with an estimated cost savings of 189000 per year

1984
John I Coe MD retires after serving for 33 years as chief of Pathology and 20 years as medical examiner for Hennepin County During that time he acquired an international reputation in forensic pathology Dr Coe

was a member of the Pathology Panel of the US Congress Committee in 197778 that investigated the assassination of President John Kennedy and Martin Luther King He developed a program at HCMC that set standards in forensic pathology throughout the region

Medicare initiates diagnosticrelated groupings and changes process of reimbursement

Hennepin County establishes Metropolitan Health Plan a health maintenance organization associated with HCMC Its initial enrollment of 700 will grow to more than 30000 over the next decade

Nurses strike hits private hospitals in Twin Cities resulting in 3040 percent increase in HCMC average daily census during June

Construction begins on new 9story parking facility across the street from HCMC

Hennepin Faculty Associates HFA the practice plan for physicians at HCMC begins operation with the mission of combining highquality patient care with a commitment to superior physician education and relevant clinical and scientific research HFA opens the Hennepin Multispecialty Clinic to serve a broader population base and provide additional clinic space for HCMC outpatient clinics

HCMC adds the Burn and Wound Clinic Seven months later the Regional Tissue Bank opens and donor skin becomes available for use in skin grafts

HCMC forms a regional consortium with other area health care organizations to fund purchase of an xtracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy mobile unit Today this Midwest Urologic Stone Unit travels throughout the Midwest from its home base at HCMC

1985
Ambulatory Burn Clinic and Regional Tissue Bank open and provide added support to Burn Center services at HCMC Red Door Clinic becomes one of the first sites for voluntary AIDS testing Hennepin County commissioners approve building a helipad HCMC Psychological Training Program is accredited by the American Psychological Association

1986
The HFA Board of Directors approves the establishment of an Office of Academic Affairs to be sponsored jointly by HFA and HCMC to encourage promote support and coordinate medical education at HCMC

An Urgent Care Center is opened next door to HCMCs Emergency Department ED

Family Medical Center FMC HCMCs new primarycare clinic located in south Minneapolis opens in June at Five West Lake Street The Family Practice Department moves its offices to FMC

HCMC opens a helipad atop its new 9story parking facility across the street from HCMC The parking facility which is connected directly to HCMC by skyway also houses the Emergency Medicine Department Ambulance Service and EMS Training

The Burn Center staff performs its first major quotculturedquot skin grafts on a patient who survives thirddegree burns over 98 percent of his body and leaves the hospital nearly nine months later

The Annex built in 1914 is razed Policy is approved to make HCMC smoke free on July 4 1987

1987
HCMC commemorates its centennial with the theme of quot18871987 A Century of Leadershipquot and celebrates with a week of special events capped by a centennial banquet HCMC becomes a smokefree facility

Alvin Schultz MD retires as chief of Medicine after 22 years Schultz led HCMCs Department of Medicine to achieve national recognition for the quality of its clinical research and education programs

Jane Phillips RN associate administrator and Director of Nursing retires Phillips was director of Nursing in 1964 when Minneapolis General Hospital MGH became Hennepin County General Hospital HCGH Under her leadership nursing programs developed and grew along with new technology She was instrumental in initiating methods to maintain staff that included MGHHCGH nursing students and in recruiting nurses for primary nursing and critical care and specialty units

HFA establishes an Acupuncture Clinic which in January 1993 expands its services and is renamed the Acupuncture and Alternative Medicine Clinic

1988
MetropolitanMount Sinai Medical Center MMSMC is born when Mount Sinai Hospital merges with Metropolitan Medical Center MMC which was itself the result of a 1970 merger of St Barnabas and Swedish Hospitals St Barnabas was Minneapolis first hospital established in 1871

HCMC opens a 41 million Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center in cooperation with neighboring MMSMC HFA opens a new Geriatrics Clinic for residents at Augustana Apartments a senior apartment complex located in the Elliot Park neighborhood

Claude Hitchcock MD PhD retires after serving as chief of the Surgery Department for 33 years He performed the first kidney transplant in the central US and the first dialysis in the region established a hyperbaric program at HCMC and was a founder and longtime president of the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation MMRF Surgeons he trained established the Hitchcock Surgical Society in his honor the organization sponsors a scientific meeting annually at HCMC MMRF honors Hitchcock with the establishment of the 25 million Claude R Hitchcock Research Laboratories

1989
HCMC joins a select number of hospitals nationwide that have achieved verification by the American College of Surgeons as a Level 1 Trauma Center HCMC is the first hospital in Minnesota to meet the ACSs standards of excellence in trauma care

The Orthopaedic Learning Center and Bioskills Laboratory open as a cooperative effort of HCMC MMSMC and the University of Minnesota U of M to be used for the training and continuing education of orthopaedic surgeons and residents from throughout the Midwest

1990
Richard Raile MD retires ending a long and distinguished career that included 36 years as chief of Pediatrics and 25 years as HCMC medical director Michael Belzer MD Internal Medicine staff member since 1980 succeeds him as HCMC medical director

William Jepson MD retires after serving as chief of Psychiatry for 32 years He was a leader in the development of community mental health programs in Hennepin County worked at the national level to develop nomenclature for psychiatric illnesses and was a strong advocate for the medically indigent

Ramon Gustilo MD retires as chief of Orthopaedics after 19 years continues as medical director of the Orthopaedic Learning Center Richard Kyle MD an Orthopaedic staff member since 1978 succeeds Gustilo as chief of Orthopaedics

1991
The national media spotlight focuses on HCMC as the center of a medical ethics controversy when the hospital becomes the first to seek court appointment of an independent conservator who would decide whether to discontinue life support against the wishes of a patients family The court rules the patients husband should be the conservator and treatment is continued The 89yearold patient dies three days later after being in a persistent vegetative state for more than a year

Peter Setness MD is named chief of Family Practice after serving as assistant chief for two years Setness succeeds Stuart Thorson MD who retired after serving as chief since 1983

HCMC begins providing helicopter patient transport as part of a joint venture with North Memorial Medical Center The service operates under the name of NORTHHCMC Air Care

HCMC commemorates the hospitals 1000th kidney transplant the first was performed in 1963 HCMC acquires 600000 square feet of space in the purchase of MetropolitanMount Sinai Medical Center which closed in June 1991 due to declining admissions and inadequate reimbursement

The Service League purchases the MMC Guild Service Kaffe Stugan and the Gift Shop and saves the MMC Historical Library

The A B and C Buildings become known as the Medical Specialty Center

David Fisher MD is appointed chief of Pediatrics succeeding Dr Raile An inpatient Family Medicine Service is established at HCMC Michael Popkin is named chief of Psychiatry succeeding Dr Jepson

Oscar Lipschultz MD chief of Radiology from 19571963 and staff member since 1930 dies After he resigned as chief Dr Lipschultz remained in parttime service to HCMC for several more decades He was honored in 1980 for 50 years of service

1992
HFA purchases the D Building of the former MMSMC HFA gains 178000 square feet and the purchase includes the surface parking lot to the east of the building

HCMCs Emergency Department becomes the third in the US to install EmSTAT an innovative computerized patient tracking system that uses touch screen technology

Longtime Emergency Medicine Chief Ernest Ruiz MD retires had been chief since the departments inception in 1971 helped establish the West Metro EMS System and special training for ambulance staff and first responders Dr Ruiz retires at HCMC and moves to the U of M to develop the Emergency Medical program in the Medical school at the University

William Keane MD becomes chief of the Internal Medicine Department An Internal Medicine staff member since 1975 Keane also served as president of MMRF executive director of the Regional Kidney Disease Program Clinical Laboratories and professor of Medicine and Pharmacy at the U of M Medical School

MMRF transfers ownership of its threechamber hyperbaric facility to Hennepin County The facility originally constructed for research purposes in the mid1960s had become increasingly used for care of patients suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning smoke inhalation arterial gas embolism nitrogen narcosis clostridial gas gangrene or selected problem wounds

HCMCs Psychiatry Department and HFA open an outpatient Psychiatry Clinic which rovides medication evaluation and psychotherapy services

1993
HCMC establishes an Occupational Medicine ClinicThe Miland E Knapp Rehabilitation Center adds the quotEasy Streetquot environment a rehabilitation facility that simulates the real world Mary Jo Peck RN becomes program manager at Knapp Rehabilitation Center

HCMCs Emergency Medicine Residency Program the second oldest in the specialty in the nation graduates its 100th participant in its 20th year

Joseph Clinton MD Emergency Medicine staff member since 1977 succeeds Dr Ruiz as chief of Emergency Medicine


Emergency Medicine Residents


CMC and HFA open Hennepin CareNorth Clinic a new community primary care clinic in Brooklyn Center

The Bloodless Medicine and Surgery Program is established at HCMC for adult patients who wish to avoid blood transfusions for religious reasons or to avoid the risk of blood borne diseases

HCMC teamed with HealthSpan to participate in a US Dept sponsored hospital partnership with two hospitals in the former Soviet Unions Republic of Moldava The program was funded by the US Agency for International Development and administered through the American International Health Alliance

1994
HFA commemorates its 10year anniversary

The Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation moves from 337th to 288th among 2075 organizations nationwide in the amount of research funding it received from the NIH in 1994 This figure puts it in the top 15 percent in terms of funding

HCMC HFA and MHP establish HEALTHCONNECTION a new nurse triage phone service that expands on the capabilities of MHPs initial service called HealthLine

HCMCs Emergency Medicine Department physicians as well as emergency physicians from St PaulRamsey and the U of M receive U of M faculty appointments following the universitys establishment of an Emergency Medicine Program The program is the culmination of longtime efforts by former Emergency Medicine Chief Ernest Ruiz who is selected to head the program during its expansion period

The importance of saving hospital heritage began in 1976 when the Minneapolis General HospitalHCMC Historical Museum opens It is the product of planning and hard work by primarily four people


Hillie Prose RN retired Director of Emergency Nursing with 55 years of service to MGH HCGH and HCMC Audrey Kuhne RN who provided 52 years of service to MGH HCGH and HCMC serving as the night supervisor for the entire hospital complex for many years In 1973 she transferred to the ER and became the first stabilization room supervisor retiring in 1980 Donna Hoover RN Medicine Service Supervisor who was on staff for 30 yearsand Harry Bloomquist who was on staff for 27 years and retired as Director of Hospital Buildings and Grounds

The Minneapolis General HospitalHCMC Historical Museum opens City Hospital Hennepin County General Hospital

1995
HCMC is named in Americas Best Hospitals as one of the nations top 100 hospitals for excellence in nine specialty areas

Melvin Bubrick MD who served as chief of surgery for six years is named president of HFA succeeding Fred Shapiro MD Michael Belzer MD is named to a second fiveyear term as HCMC medical director

Mark Martens MD becomes HCMC chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology succeeding Stephen Cruikshank MD who served from 1986 to 1993

Medical Imaging institutes new digital imaging system

a filmless system that permits faster sometimes immediate xray readings

GlenwoodLyndale Community Clinic opens at 503 Bryant Ave N Minneapolis

Mary Croll Service League director for 33 years retires

at the end of December 1994 She is replaced by Judy Nordland director of volunteers at Ridgeview Medical Center Waconia

Milt Ettinger MD retires July 1 after 32 years as chief

of Neurology Ettinger initiated the development of the Huntingtons Disease Clinic and along with Mark Mahowald MD established the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center

1996
Diabetes Center and Center for Senior Care opens in D Building

David C Anderson MD acting chief of Neurology since the retirement of Milt Ettinger

is named chief

John T Crosson MD interim chief of Pathology since November 1995 is named chief He succeeds W Robert Anderson MD who served as chief since 1984

Raymond Gensinger Jr MD director of Medical Informatics at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine joins HCMC as director of Medical Informatics

Jorge L Rodriguez MD former associate professor of Surgery and division chief of Trauma Burns and Emergency Surgery at the University of Michigan is appointed chief of Surgery at HCMC and vice chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School

Hennepin Care South Clinic opens in the HUB Shopping Center in Richfield

HCMCs NurseMidwife Service commemorates its 25th anniversary at HCMC

It was the first nursemidwife service in Minneapolis opened under the direction of Margaret Hewitt CNM

1997
Cancer Center opens The Diabetes Center breaks new ground in diabetes treatment the first ever to treat a patient hundreds of miles away over telephone lines using a modem and insulin pump

Education Department is created to provide educational resources to all HCMC departments as needed HCMC transplant surgeons perform 1500th kidney transplant

Robert O Berkseth MD Nephrology is named associate medical director for Quality Management

HCMC becomes the only medical center funded by the National Institutes for Health NIH and the Centers or Disease Control CDC to determine the extent and ramifications of heart valve damage due to the diet drug fenphen

1998

HCMC surgeons use laparoscopic surgery to remove a donor kidney and then transplant it into the donors mother This minimally invasive technique uses multiple small incisions and a video camera to detach and bag the kidney then remove it through a twoinch incision

Michael Stanley MD Pathology is named chief of Pathology
HCMC is one of seven medical centers around the country testing VEGF a drug that promotes the growth of blood vessels around heart blockages

Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center celebrates its 20th anniversary with quotMoonstruck 1998quot a fundraising event for pediatric sleep disorders research conducted by the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation

HCMCs Emergency Department phase IV renovation is completed providing an additional 23000 sq ft of patient and visitor space HCMC is ranked among the nations 42 top hospitals in Orthopaedics Otolaryngology and Pulmonary Diseases by US News amp World Report in its annual Americas Best Hospitals report HCMCs Department of Neurology Huntingtons Disease Clinic is designated as a Huntingtons Disease Society of America HDSA Center of Excellence the second in the nation to receive such recognition

1999
HCMC gets new leadership Mar 1 Jeff Spartz Hennepin County administrator since April 1996 is named HCMC administrator and Chuck Richards HCMC senior associate administrator becomes chief operating officer

They replace John Bluford who served as administrator from 1993 to 1999 and Cathy Disch who accepted positions at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City Mo

HCMC receives the SmithKline Beecham 1999 Health Care Partnership Award for its role in the collaboration that resulted in the GlenwoodLyndale Community Clinic

HCMC is again ranked among the nations best hospitals in US News amp World Reports listing of Americas Best Hospitals The Center for Healthcare Industry Performance Studies ranks HCMC in its top 50 among teaching hospitals for quality specifically in lower mortality and length of stay rates

The threeyear 107 million Emergency Department renovationexpansion project

is completed in March The project increased the size of the ED from 34000 square

feet to 53565 including stateoftheart equipment for treating trauma patients

The new STAB Stabilization Room now

has four patient care units double the

size of the old STAB Room Remodeling includes special care areas and new team centers For five years thru many stages

the project has dominated the life of Jackie Mlekoday RN nurse manager of HCMC ED Paramedics provide coverage at sport and civic events

The Service League celebrates its 40th anniversary A timeline of HCMCs history is installed in the South Block lobby

David Anderson MD chief of Neurology is
the 1999 recipient of the American Heart Associations Stroke Awareness Award

Cheryl Kraft MS director of Laboratories at HCMC is appointed to a new national committee that will review and recommend to the Health Care Financing Administration which specific medical devices and services should be covered by Medicare

Caroline Bunker Rosdahl RN staff nurse on Psychiatry has had published 7 editions of the quotTextbook of Basic Nursingquot published since 1973 It is widely used throughout the United States and other Englishspeaking countries

The Medical Examiners office moves to renovated quarters at 530 Chicago Ave

2000
In April HCMC leadership announces the creation of a new administrative structure made up primarily of five Clinical Business Units CBU Surgery PrimaryMaternal and Child Medicine Behavioral and Emergency Providing support to all are Information amp Technology Management Environmental Support and Clinical Support Each CBU has physician and administrative leaders

HCMC for the third consecutive year is listed among Americas Best Hospitals by US News amp World Report

Michael Belzer MD is appointed to a third fiveyear term as medical director

Chip Truwit MD joins HCMC as chief of Radiology

Six of Minnesotas 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders as reported by Minnesota Physician are from HCMC and HFA Michael Belzer MD medical director Melvin Bubrick MD HFA president John McGill MD Emergency Medicine Michael Popkin MD chief of Psychiatry Jeff Spartz CEO and Michael West MD assistant chief of Surgery

Fortyone HCMC physicians are included in the national Best Doctors in America list William Keane MD Medicine chairman was elected President of the National Kidney Foundation

Service League funds pilot program for Healing Environment Coordinator

The Ramon B Gustilo Chair at the Minneapolis medical Research Foundation is established honoring Dr Gustilo first chairman of the Orthopaedics Department The chair creates an endowment to support research in orthopaedic surgery at the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory

2001
Chuck Richards chief operating officer and longtime administrator who joined General Hospital in 1963 as director of Pharmacy retires March 30 Moving into administration in 1967 Richards was at the center of most of the decisions of the medical center during the following three decades

He is succeeded by Lynn Abrahamsen most recently executive director of the Neighborhood Health Care Network Abrahamsen worked at HCMC in the early 1980s helping develop the model and implementation plan for Hennepin Faculty Associates

HCMC for the fourth consecutive year is listed among Americas Best Hospitals by US News amp World Report

The Emergency Department in June becomes essentially paperless with the addition of physician charting to its EmSTAT system All patient information is now online the culmination of 10 years of design testing and education by ED nurses and physicians EmSTAT on August 28 also recorded its onemillionth patient visit

HCMCs Surgery amp Procedure Center opened in October in the Medical Specialty Center The 62 million center brings a variety of surgical and other specialties together in one setting convenient to patients and families

Millie Caspersen RN retired supervisor of the Crisis Intervention Center served on the Mpls PoliceMental Health Round Table and the Hennepin County Mental Health Advisory Council The Service League funds pilot for Family Safety Resource Center Coordinator

2002
HCMC begins joint strategic planning with Hennepin Faculty Associates in response to significant public program funding changes

A new Cardiac Shortstay Unit is opened with 3 outpatient and 8 inpatient beds and centralized stateoftheart Cardiac Care services

In August Scott Davies MD becomes Chief of the Department of Medicine and Hennepin Faculty Associates and Medicine CBU Physician partner

HCMC is recognized for Fifth Straight Year on US News amp World Reports List of quotAmericas Best Hospitalsquot This is the fifth year in a row the Medical Center has been recognized in the magazines annual rankings of hospitals where consumers can go to get the best level of medical care HCMC is cited for its excellence in the categories of Kidney Disease and Respiratory Disorders

Alice Norby retires from volunteering after more than 55 years of service Alice predated the Service League volunteer program as a Red Cross Lady The longest tenured volunteer at HCMC she began serving during World War II when 73 nurses from Minneapolis General Hospital wen to war creating a nursing shortage Norbys bosses at Safety Envelope graciously allowed Alice to immediately answer a call from MGH when the emergency room needed help

The Hennepin Regional Poison Center celebrates 30 years of service The Minnesota Poison Control System MPCS a cooperative effort between the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Regional Poison Center HRPC joined with 64 other poison centers nationwide in a campaign to raise awareness about 18002221222 the new lifesaving hotline for poison emergency treatment and advice The Hennepin Regional Poison Center is nationally certified by the American Association of Poison Control Centers and is the only certified poison control center in the Midwest

2003
The Hennepin County Board appoints a 14member Citizen Governance Task Force to assess the current governance structure The task force report concludes that changes are needed and recommends a second citizens group to identify alternatives to the current structure

Dr Wesley Burnham at the age of 90 years is semiretired but continues as he has for the past 50 years to serve on the HCMC teaching staff seeing patients in the Orthopaedic Department three days a week

HCMC is recognized for the sixth straight year as one of Americas Best Hospitals by USNews and World Report HCMC was cited specifically for its excellence in the category of Kidney Disease

Richard Zera MD PhD accepted the position of HCMC Chief of Surgery Dr Zeras association with HCMC began 25 years ago when he was an orderly on Psychiatry

At the 2003 Womens Expo Mary Jo Peck Knapp Rehab was recognized as the working women of the year

Dr Ernest Ruiz longtime HCMC Chief of Emergency Medicine received the Charles Bolles Bolles Rogers Award awarded by the Hennepin Medical Society for outstanding achievements in research mentoring and leadership

Michael Belzer MD HCMC Medical Director was elected PresidentElect of the Hennepin Medical Society He will transition to President in 2004 and to Board Chair in 2005

The Kidney Transplant Program celebrates its 40th year anniversary The 2000th kidney transplant will be done this year

A new hospitalbased Domestic Violence Program was implemented at HCMC The programs staff is committed to working with the community the county HCMC physicians and staff to help persons in abusive relationships

Drs Linda Thompson and Marjorie Hogan received the Sheila Wellstone Gold Watch Award The award is given annually to individuals demonstrating leadership both within and beyond the criminal justice system on behalf of women and children who are victims of sexual assault domestic violence or child abuse and neglect

The Internal Medicine Department hosted a special Internal Medicine CME Update and Reunion for current and former HCMC residents fellows and faculty This special event including presentations tours of HCMC program and dinner drew 200 attendees from as far away as Costa Rica






































































of 150 per run In 1900 a driver will be hired and a horse purchased



superintendent Daily cost is 89 cents