Lake Health history

1905: Rainbow Cottage relocated to Green Road in South Euclid.

1906: George Crile, MD, performed the first radical neck dissection for laryngeal and other cancers of the neck.

1907: Charles Franklin Hoover, MD, is the first to describe two physical signs that help physicians diagnose certain conditions.

1908: The Community Hospital of Bedford (today UH Bedford Medical Center) opened.

1910: Lakeside Hospital was the world’s first hospital to perfect the manufacture of nitrous oxide gas.

1912: Samaritan Hospital (today UH Samaritan Medical Center) opened in Ashland.

1914: After several moves, Rainbow Cottage changed its name to Rainbow Hospital for Crippled and Convalescent Children.

1917: The Lakeside Unit was deployed as the first American military unit on European soil during World War I.

1919: Brown Memorial Hospital (today UH Conneaut Medical Center) opened.

1923: Henry Gerstenberger, MD, received a patent for infant formula known as SMA (Synthetic Milk Adapted), developed at Babies Dispensary and Children’s Hospital in collaboration with Harold Ruh, MD, and biochemist William Frohring.

1924: Babies’ Dispensary and Hospital moved to University Circle and was renamed Babies and Children’s Hospital.

1925: UH became the first multihospital system in northeast Ohio, comprising Lakeside Hospital, Babies and Children’s Hospital and Maternity Hospital.

1927: A five-day fundraising campaign raised more than $8 million for a new Lakeside Hospital to be built on the University Circle campus, and a new Rainbow Hospital in South Euclid.

1929: Harry Coulby designated in his will that the bulk of his $3.2 million estate be left to The Cleveland Foundation, with half the money designated for the benefit of Lakeside Hospital.

1931:The new Lakeside Hospital and adjoining Leonard C. Hanna House opened on the University Circle campus.

1934: Harry Goldblatt, MD, described the role of the kidneys in hypertension (high blood pressure), laying the foundation for the discovery of renin and eventually the development of enzyme-inhibitor medications to treat chronic hypertension.

1935: Claude Beck, MD, performed the first operation for coronary artery disease.

Our history in South Lake began when a group of community-minded citizens came together in 1938 to form the Clermont Welfare League.

1939: Charles I. Thomas, MD, performed the first corneal transplant in Northeast Ohio, paving the way to restored vision for millions of people.

1941: The Lakeside Unit was reactivated and deployed to the South Pacific to staff the first American military hospital in World War II.

1944 The community effort to establish a hospital for the Grand Lake Region is started by Emil Marx, Elry Hudson, Charles Nott, and H.E. Krauss.

1946 A Board of Trustees is formed to establish a Joint Township Hospital District

South Lake Hospital was founded in 1947 to provide quality healthcare services and promote healthy lifestyles to this community.

1950: William Holden, MD, performed the first successful femoro-popliteal bypass (from the thigh to the lower leg), using a section of the patient’s own vein.

1952: Use of chloramphenicol in blood disease was developed by Austin Weisberger, MD.

Giving area residents a choice in quality medical care close to home, Joint Township District Memorial Hospital opened its doors on May 5, 1953.

1955: Alan Moritz, MD, known as the Father of Forensic Pathology, worked to establish forensic pathology as a medical subspecialty and influenced the development of a professional United States medical examiner system, displacing lay coroners in that position.

1957: Robert Izant, MD, performed the first successful surgery on infants to connect the stomach and intestinal tract.

1959 First expansion; 25-bed wing added.

1962: Joseph T. Wearn Laboratory for Medical Research opened on the University Circle campus.

1967: The Robert H. Bishop Building on the University Circle campus opened.

1969: Jay Ankeney, MD, performed the first successful off-pump open-heart procedure, which later became the basis for minimally invasive heart surgery.

1970: Measurement of lung function using isotopes and computer drawings developed by Scott Inkley, MD, and James MacIntyre, MD.

1971: A “Glass House” was developed to reduce infection in total hip replacement surgery.

1972: Clyde Nash, MD, Richard Brown, PhD, and Albert Burstein, PhD, developed intraoperative spinal cord monitoring, dramatically improving the safety of complex spinal surgery.

1973: John Kattwinkel, MD, Avroy Fanaroff, MD, and Marshall Klaus, MD, with David Fleming from Biomedical Engineering, developed silicone nasal prongs for the application of continuous positive airway pressure in treating respiratory distress in pre-term and near-term neonates.

1974 $2.5 million expansion – From a 75 to a 119-bed facility; 3-story tower constructed; coronary care, new surgery, and recovery areas added; emergency, X-ray, physical therapy, and lab services expanded.

1976: John R. Haaga, MD, pioneered the use of computed tomography (CT) to guide biopsies, nerve blocks, abscess drainage and cancer treatment, significantly reducing the need for patients to have open surgery.

1978: Ohio’s first bone marrow bank was established by Roger Herzig, MD.

1979: Jeffrey Ponsky, MD, and Michael Gauderer, MD, performed the first percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy on infants, safely inserting a feeding tube in a minimally invasive manner in a baby’s stomach.

1980: The world’s first known survivor of ricin poisoning was treated by Leigh Thompson, MD.

1981: The first pediatric bone marrow transplant in Ohio was performed by Peter Coccia, MD.

The cancer center program was re-named University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center in his honor in 1982.

1983 Major expansion with 3 new floors added to patient tower

1986: Arthur Zinn, MD, Douglas Kerr, MD, Charles Hoppel, MD, published the first description and detailed characterization of a defect (in the enzyme fumarase) in the famous pathway required for energy metabolism, the Krebs cycle.

1987: Ireland Cancer Center, in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs hospital, became the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Clinical Cancer Center in the area.

1988: The University Hospitals Health System formed.

1989 JTDMH begins operation of the Celina Medical Center

1993 Joint Township Foundation holds first golf outing

1994: Susan Shurin, MD, performed the first umbilical cord transplant to treat childhood leukemia, using cord blood stem cells from the patient’s newborn sister.

Originally founded as a partnership between Lake Hospital System and University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center, Lake/University Ireland Cancer Center opened its doors at the Mentor campus in 1996.

1997: University Hospitals partnered with Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights.

That commitment culminated in 2000 with the opening of our beautiful new campus.

2002: The reporting of an ALLHAT (Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial) study by Jackson Wright, MD, showed that thiazide-type diuretics should be considered first for drug therapy in patients with hypertension.

2004: A transformational gift of an initial $25 million from the Goodman family, which continues to grow today through their fund at The Cleveland Foundation, is recognized in naming the Doctor Donald J. and Ruth Weber Goodman Discovery Center for Clinical Research at UH Seidman Cancer Center.

2005 Major capital campaign for hospital expansion

2006 Changes Joint Township Memorial Hospital and its affiliates to Grand Lake Health System Builds system wide awareness Leads in a number of system wide improvements Hospice care Women’s Digital Imaging

2007 Joint Township District Memorial Hospital named in the top 1% of all hospitals in United States Highly rated home health and ER services are among the best nationally.

2008: Mark A. Griswold, PhD, developed parallel imaging technique for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which produces clearer, more accurate images in shorter time.

In 2009, Lake Hospital System changed its name to Lake Health in recognition of its focus on health and wellness.

2010: The Program of All-inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE), one of only two such programs in Ohio, is established.

Following a $42 million gift to the University Hospitals system in 2011, Ireland Cancer Center was renamed Seidman Cancer Center.

2012 Dedicated Inpatient Comfort Suite created for hospice and other patients

2013 Healthgrades® recognized Joint Township District Memorial Hospital for exceptional quality in 16 different areas of care

Otolaryngologists Maroun Semaan, MD (left), and Cliff Megerian, MD, in collaboration with neurosurgeon Nicholas Bambakidis, MD, and Gail Murray, MD, performed the auditory brainstem implant on Maggie Gleason, 2014

2015: Karen Mole and her family foundation, the Hampson Family Foundation, gave $10.6 million to UH Elyria Medical Center to support the development and expansion of programs that address the health care needs of Lorain County residents.