Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System history

The Spartanburg General Hospital School of Nursing graduated its first class in 1922.

In 1934, Spartanburg General opened the first local cancer clinic.

1951 Baptist Hospital opens with 140 beds and a post–operative recovery room, the first in Florida and possibly the second in the United States.

1956 First expansion adds 40 beds.

1959 A major addition opens, bringing Baptist Hospital’s bed capacity to 325.

The 1960 expansion offered patients new comforts including private or semi-private rooms with private bathrooms.

1964 A year of innovation – An expansion provides space for one of the nation’s first two outpatient surgery centers.

In February 1967, hospital officials signed an agreement with University of South Carolina (USC) trustees to establish USC-Spartanburg (now known as USC-Upstate), complete with a nursing school.

In 1968, Spartanburg General added a new data center to handle a modern phenomenon: a tsunami of information.

1969 Baptist Hospital acquires the Hillhaven Home and converts it to the Rainwater Specialty Care Center (the building that later became Baptist Behavioral Health Unit).

The Department of Medical Education was established in 1970, making Spartanburg General the first hospital in South Carolina approved by the American Board of Family Practice for family practice residencies and the fifth chartered Family Medicine program in the nation.

1972 Baptist Hospital completes the largest expansion in its history, bringing total bed capacity to 520.

1974 Construction begins on the first medical office building adjoining Baptist Hospital.

1975 The Foundation of Baptist Hospital is established August 13.

1976 The Women’s Board of the Foundation established.

1977 LifeFlight helicopter ambulance service is brought to Baptist Hospital, becoming the first hospital–based emergency helicopter program in Florida, the third in the United States.

1978 Baptist Regional Health Services is created to extend Baptist Hospital’s sophisticated care to smaller hospitals throughout Northwest Florida and South Alabama.

1979 The closing of Jay Hospital is averted when the Baptist Regional Health Services organization leases it from Santa Rosa County.

Surgeons performed Spartanburg General Hospital’s first open-heart surgery in 1981.

In 1983, a $150,000 National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant enabled the hospital and its staff to participate in the National Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP), the first of many cancer research projects at the hospital.

1984 Construction begins on expansion of Baptist Hospital and construction of Gulf Breeze Hospital.

Baptist Health Care opened the facility in 1985 to provide convenient access to hospital services for residents of south Santa Rosa, Escambia, Okaloosa and Walton counties.

The 95-bed Regional Heart Center opened in 1988.

1992 A new Heart Center is opened on the first floor of the Baptist Medical Towers.

1993 The new centers for wound and infusion services are opened at Baptist Hospital.

In 1994, SRMC purchased the building and equipment of Doctors Memorial Hospital on Serpentine Drive.

1995 Baptist Health Care opens two new primary care centers.

In 1996, the Regional Outpatient Center opened.

1997 Kugelman Cancer Center becomes first facility in region to offer radioactive seed implants for prostate cancer.

1998 Open heart surgery services are initiated at Baptist Hospital.

A new Emergency Center (EC) opened in 2004 with 55 beds, double the size of its predecessor.

The Spartanburg Regional Healthcare Museum, opened in May 2006, features hundreds of photographs and artifacts from the Upstate’s rich medical history.

In 2008, Spartanburg Regional became the first hospital in the South to perform robotic endoscopic beating-heart surgery.

In 2010, Spartanburg Regional became the first hospital in South Carolina to complete a minimally invasive, robot-assisted lung surgery for early lung cancer.

2014 President and CEO Mark T. Faulkner is named vice chair/chairman-elect of the Florida Hospital Association 2014-15 Board of Trustees.

In 2015, the Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute began to use a surgery-free radiation therapy: the CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System.

In 2016, Beaumont Mill filled with people for the first time in nearly 20 years.