Physicians Medical Center history

From our small beginnings in 1873, to our present day eight hospital system with thousands of employees, our mission has been the same - to improve the health and well being of the people of Central Pennsylvania.

1909 - Polyclinic Hospital opens.

1912 - First gasoline-powered ambulance is put into service.

1924 - The Dunott-Coover Memorial Operating Room Trust is established with $4,000 worth of stocks; income is used to buy surgical instruments.

1936 - Seidle Memorial Hospital is founded.

While other hospitals were keeping refrigerated blood on hand prior to 1937, Fantus was the first to use a 2 percent sodium citrate solution to increase the shelf life of refrigerated blood to nearly 10 days.

Grove Hill was founded in 1947 and was based in New Britain, Connecticut.

1956 - The first open-heart surgery is performed at Harrisburg Campus.

1960 - The inpatient psychiatric unit opens.

In 1963, the M.S. Hershey Foundation offered $50 million to The Pennsylvania State University to establish a medical school in Hershey.

1967 - A 17-bed intensive care unit opens with six cardiac monitoring facilities.

Since the first graduation in 1969, College of Medicine students have become productive physicians and scientists.

The Medical Center accepted its first patients in 1970.

1978 - $33.7 million project is approved by the board for Harrisburg Hospital.

1979 - The first Children's Health Fair is held for 600 area third graders.

1980 - The Psychiatric Department is initiated at Polyclinic Medical Center.

1983 - The Harrisburg Institute of Psychiatry is established.

Opened in 1996 by a group of leading community physicians, Physicians Medical Center (PMC) is a 30-bed, acute care hospital located in Houma, the heart of Bayou Country, 50 miles southwest of New Orleans.

1997 - PinnacleHealth performs the first off-pump coronary bypass.

1998 - Carlisle Hospital (Now UPMC Carlisle) expands from is original location on Parker Street to a 25-acre campus off of Walnut Bottom Road

Formerly Cleveland Clinic Florida, Physicians Regional - Pine Ridge has been part of the Southwest Florida community since 1999.

In September, 2001, surgeon Jacques Marescaux completed the first remote laparoscopy.

2004 - PinnacleHealth brings the National Red Dress Project to Harrisburg, educating women about their number-one health threat, heart disease.

In 2005, two French physicians, Doctor Jean-Michel Dubernard and Doctor Bernard Devauchelle, completed the first successful facial transplant surgery after their patient was mauled and disfigured by her dog.

Physicians Regional - Collier Boulevard began accepting patients in February of 2007.

2008 - PinnacleHealth performs first same-sitting hybrid revascularization (heart bypass surgery and stent placement) with da Vinci robot.

2009 - PinnacleHealth performs first kidney transplant as part of the National Kidney Registry’s (NKR) paired donor exchange program.

2011 - PinnacleHealth's Harrisburg Hospital Emergency Department fully operational after construction update.

2012 - PinnacleHealth surgeons are first in the world to perform anterior lumbar spine surgery with the da Vinci Si Surgical System.

2013 - A new partnership with Highmark is formed to expand patient-centered medical home efforts in central Pennsylvania.

2018 - New maternity unit opens at UPMC Harrisburg

The Heart Center at Physicians Regional multi-million dollar renovation of nearly 17,000 square feet opened in July 2020.

The facility has also received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus 2021 Quality Achievement Award with Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll.