Salem Hospital (Oregon) - History

History

In 1896, Salem General Hospital was incorporated at the Glen Oak Orphanage. Situated on 10 acres (40,000 m2) of land donated to the orphanage by the Oregon Children's Aid Society, the hospital opened a school of nursing with the first class graduating in 1899. The original building for Salem General burned in 1920, with a new building completed the following year. Salem General expanded in 1926 and 1953.

In 1916, Frank B. Wedel and wife started the Deaconess Home and Hospital in a former hotel on Winter Street. Started with four nurses, the hospital grew and was expanded in 1920, becoming Deaconess Hospital. The hospital was expanded again in 1924 to 1925, with administration staying in the Wedel family until it was converted into a community hospital and renamed as Salem Memorial Hospital. In 1969, Salem Memorial Hospital and Salem General Hospital merged to create Salem Hospital.

Salem Hospital purchased Valley Community Hospital (now known as West Valley Hospital) in neighboring Dallas in 1999. In 2001, the hospital finalized plans to expand and replace the 1950s building. As part of this program, a new emergency room was completed in December 2003. In 1999, the hospital was downgraded from a Level II to a Level III trauma center by the State of Oregon. Beginning in 2001, the hospital was allowed to treat some Level II patients that would normally be transferred to another hospital under the state's four tier trauma care rating system.

In 2003, a new five-story building was added to house infant, child, and pregnancy services. In October 2006, construction on a new seven-story, 347,700-square-foot (32,300 m2) building began. When completed in 2009, the $219 million will replace approximately half of the existing hospital beds and include three skybridges to the other buildings at the hospital campus.

Salem Hospital received five-star ratings from HealthGrades in 2007 for cholecystectomy, total-hip replacement, back and neck surgery, coronary bypass surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, coronary interventional procedures, treatment of heart attack, and spinal surgery, as well as an award for cardiac and gastrointestinal surgeries. The hospital’s laboratory became accredited in 2007 by the College of American Pathologists' Laboratory Accreditation Program Accreditation Committee. In 2008, the hospital added the da Vinci System, a robotic surgery system, with a grant from the Salem Hospital Foundation. Salem Hospital was elevated to a Level II trauma center from Level III in December 2010.