St Bernards Medical Center

History

History
The Olivetan Benedictine Sisters founded St Bernards Hospital in 1900

In March The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer awarded the Ben E Owens Cancer Treatment Center at St Bernards the highest approval given a full three year approval for their commitment to maintaining the Cancer program

Ground is broken in May for Outpatient Surgery Center as a joint venture between St Bernards and a number of area physicians

In May an announcement was made to purchase a PET Scanner In December construction was completed and the GE PET Advance NXI was installed and being tested

Ground was broken in October for a new Sports Medicine Clinic to be built on the campus of Arkansas State University The clinic will also include a family practice clinic operated by First Care and will house the student health center for the University

2002
The Senior Services division explodes with several programs

A partnership with UAMS the Donald W Reynolds Center on Aging and AHECNortheast we opened a Center On AgingNortheast to provide resources to Senior Adults including the services of a new Senior Health Clinic as we welcomed for the first time a Geriatrician to Jonesboro

St Bernards Village opened an expansion in the assisted living quarters of the facility and broke ground for another expansion to the congregate living area

Began operation of 8 Senior Life Centers in Craighead and Poinsett Counties serving hot meals on a daily basis and providing activities for area residents

2001
Another year of quotfirstsquot for St BernardsThe Chest Pain Center is opened in the Emergency department Brachytherapy is offered as a treatment for heart disease and the R2 Image checker is introduced to the region for breast cancer detection The Cancer Treatment Center celebrates 10 years of service and St Bernards Village plans expansion to meet the growing needs of assisted living in the community

2000
St Bernards Dayplace a center that provides daylong care for senior adults opens in January On July 5 St Bernards celebrates a century of serving by turning 100 years old On August 1213 over 3800 people were served through Mission Serve At that time St Bernards the Arkansas Army National Guard and the Jonesboro community united to provide over a quarter of a million dollars worth of free medical services to all participants

1999
The Heartcare Center a 70000 square foot facility is opened and houses heart services along with nuclear medicine in one convenient location Late that summer a Lightspeed CT Scanner is also added to speed the diagnosis process which is especially helpful in trauma situations

1998
St Bernards Village a unique retirement community which opened in October enables residents to lead full and active lives Scintimammography becomes available in the Department of Nuclear Medicine where an IV injection is used to detect breast cancer St Bernards introduces a Mobile Mammography Unit which will travel to 23 counties offering mammograms to groups of women in industry and other locations

1997
St Bernards acquires St Bernards Behavioral Health formerly known as Greenleaf This enables the offering of behavioral healthcare A new Dialysis and Cardiac Rehab is opened in April Construction begins on the Heartcare Center The addition of cuttingedge mammography and ultrasound equipment to the Womens Diagnostic Center in October allows for a higher level of confidence in detecting breast lesions and may reduce the number of breast biopsies by 40 percent

1996
A new Magnetic Resonance Imaging SystemMRI came on line in January The new system is nearly 10 times faster than the old one and reduces the waiting period for MRI testing to one day The addition of a new HiSpeed Computed Tomography SystemCTi gives St Bernards the most advanced CT diagnostic capabilities in Northeast Arkansas The ground breaking on the St Bernards Retirement Village takes place in October The first phase of the village is to be completed in 1998

1994
St Bernards Healthcare Associated Regional ProvidersSHARP is established as the first operational PhysicianHospital OrganizationPHO in the state Transitional Care Facility is opened

1993
Center for Pain Management is opened and PreAdmission Testing begins

1990
The Diagnostic amp Treatment Center is completed along with a multilevel parking deck The Center includes the Ben E Owens Cancer Treatment Centerincluding a Linear Accelerator the Womens Diagnostic Center Hemodialysis Area Health Education CenterAHEC Northeast and the Gastroenterology Laboratory

1987
Balloon Angioplasty is offered A helicopter pad and the Magnetic Resonance ImagingMRI unit building is completed

1985
The Sleep Disorder Center is opened

1983
A Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory is added

1982
The North Wing is completed incorporating Pediatrics and MedicalSurgical beds bringing total capacity to 325

1964
A threefloor expansion of the East Wing brings bed capacity to 274 Intensive Coronary Care addition is also completed that year and services added later include Cobalt Therapy1976 CT Head Scan1979 and Nuclear Cardiology1980

1962
The North Wing and Laundry Building are completed and a Pediatrics Department is added Bed capacity is now 207

1952
Construction of the East Wing is dedicated bringing total bed capacity to 150

1921
The hospital receives accreditation of its school for registered nurses A year later the hospital is approved by the American College of Surgeons

1916
The first Xray Machine is installed

1900
The first patient is admitted to a sixroom house on East Matthews Avenue