ACMC | Pulse | 2014 Resource Guide - page 3

1963
Ashtabula General
Hospital expands to
226 beds
1975
South Wing opens
2004
ACMC celebrates
100 years of caring
for the community;
the hospital also
received the Best of
the County President’s
Award from Growth
Partnership
2008
The Cleveland
Clinic cardiac
catheterization
lab at ACMC opens
2009
The ACMC
Wound Healing
Center opens
2010–13
2011
ACMC adds
oncology and
hematology
services
2012
Electronic medical records
connect all ACMC patients
to the entire Cleveland
Clinic Health System
2014
Conneaut Family
Health Center
opens
1911
North Wing
erected as
nurses’ home
1922
Ashtabula
Foundation
established
1930
Amelia Lewis
Nurses Home
erected
1947
Campaign launched
to build new 150-bed
hospital; modern building
opens five years later
1950
1975
1925
NOW
OPEN
ACMC is named a Top Workplace in
the Cleveland metro area
of community healthcare
heating and sterilizing instruments
was to be shut down in favor of a new
facility to be constructed a few miles
away.
Ashtabula city leaders offered
$30,000 in revenue, which was set
aside in an Electric Light Surplus
Fund. The city and hospital split the
cost of building a new steam plant,
and the hospital was saved.
The demand for improved medical
care continued into the ’40s and ’50s.
The population of Ashtabula had
grown from 27,000 to 45,000 by the
mid-1940s. Bed space in the hospital
was at a premium, yet the need to
support a growing baby boomer
industrial society was constant.
In 1947, a push was made to build
a brand-new hospital for Ashtabula.
It was touted as a modern, state-
of-the-art facility with expanded
maternity services to handle the
increased births and with all the
other technological advancements
needed in a modern society.
Ashtabula citizens responded to
a request for assistance—obviously
seeing the need for a hospital to
handle their growing, bustling city.
In all, more than $700,000 was raised
locally in just 10 days from around
Ashtabula County. With additional
funds coming in from government
sources, a trust fund donation of
$400,000 and additional money raised
before construction, a new 160-bed,
three-unit hospital opened its doors
in 1952 at a cost of $2 million (more
than $25 million in today’s dollars).
The new Ashtabula General
was praised as a symbol of what
Ashtabula citizens could accomplish
when they worked together.
Committed to constant
improvement
Over the next decade, Ashtabula
General reinforced its commitment
to improving the healthcare offered
by bringing new innovations to
Ashtabula.
In 1957, the Department of
Radiology added radioactive isotopes
to study thyroid illnesses and later
also included X-rays and other
diagnostic advancements.
A new four-story wing was planned
in 1960 to include a new psychiatric
unit, a nursing unit for geriatric
patients and those with chronic
illnesses, a 40-bed nursing unit for
acutely ill patients, a physical therapy
unit, house physician services, an
x-ray department, new office space, a
chapel, a medical library, and more.
The total construction cost was
nearly $2 million, and the new
building opened its doors in 1963.
Through the remainder of the
1960s and into the 1970s, the growth
of Ashtabula County continued,
and the demands increased on
the hospital to stay current with
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