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
        
        
          
            Continued on page 20