1897 On September 3rd, during a meeting at the Marlborough Hotel in Bar Harbor, members of the Village Improvement Society conclude that “some form of hospital is both expedient and even now necessary.” A committee composed of local citizens and summer residents undertakes to raise $10,000 for the construction of a “Bar Harbor Medical and Surgical Hospital.”
1898 Completion of the 46-by-84-foot classical revival Colonial-style Hospital. Capacity is limited to 10 beds, five in private rooms: “All that is possible has been done to make the building clean, comfortable, cheerful and convenient.” Designed by architect Milton W. Stratton of Savage and Stratton; Stratton was from Hancock, where he worked as a young man for his father Warren, a house painter. Like his partner Fred Savage, Stratton never attended college, instead learning architecture at the famed Boston firms of Little, Brown, and Moore, and Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson. Stratton also designed the iconic Bar Harbor Historical Society museum on Ledgelawn Avenue, which was originally known as St. Edward’s Convent. Cost of the lot, building, and furnishings: $14,071.33. Interesting side note: a few years earlier, there had been efforts to site a hospital on Ledgelawn Avenue, but the residents refused to allow it in their neighborhood.
1899 Establishment of the Bar Harbor Hospital Club, which organized both resident and non-resident members of the medical profession “in order to promote unity, harmony and good fellowship, to maintain a high standard of professional acquirement and to inspire interest in the cultivation of medical science and literature.” The Club was designed as an “outgrowth” of the Bar Harbor Medical and Surgical Hospital, in the hopes that each organization would support the other for mutual benefit. Charter members included Drs. Averill, Bunker, Hagerthy, Longstreth, Morrison, Morrison, Rogers, Shober, Fremont-Smith, Taylor.
1899 Surgical Department outfitted at the direction of John Shober, M.D., a Philadelphia physician who served as a visiting surgeon during his summers in Bar Harbor. The equipment—including operating table, sterilizing apparatus and surgical instruments—cost $700.
1900 From a front-page ad in the Bar Harbor Record newspaper: “Since the Hospital was opened, just a year ago, it has received nearly 150 cases, more than 80 of which were surgical, and in four of these cases the prompt relief afforded saved the patients’ lives. Those who cannot afford to pay are treated without charge.”
1900 First appendectomy performed.
1903 Ward patient cost is set at $7 per week; private rooms cost $25 to $30 per week. If a patient is unable to pay, members of the Hospital’s Board of Trustees or the Ladies’ Auxiliary Board are empowered to seek a reduction in the charges.
1905 Bar Harbor Medical and Surgical Hospital is enlarged to twice its former size, at a cost of about $10,000. In part, this was undertaken because patients had been turned away due to lack of space in the previous year. New facilities include a nurses’ dining room, 9 new ward beds, 7 private rooms, an emergency and isolation ward, an X-ray room, an eye clinic, and a pathology lab.
1906 The Hospital admits its first maternity patient. Space constraints limit inpatient maternity care to summer residents in the warm season; local women, assisted by a doctor and nurse, deliver at home.
1907 Two free beds are endowed by Mrs. S.W. Bridgham, Mrs. John I. Kane, and Mrs. Gardiner Sherman.
1908 Operating costs are recorded as $8,681. Bed capacity is now 14, and there are 15 medical and surgical staff members. Of the 146 patients admitted during this year, 42 are treated free of charge.
1914 260 admissions are recorded. Doctors are divided into Medical Staff and Surgical Staff groups.
1914 Julia Baker Schauffler donates $12,900 to purchase a house on Wayman Lane for use as a Nurses’ Home. Emma Baker Kennedy donates a maternity ward.
1923 Mrs. Gerrish Milliken donates a ward carriage, which conveys dressings, instruments, and apparatus to the place of operation; also, the Hospital’s first electric elevator is installed.
1923 A recovery ward is dedicated in memory of Dr. Frank Fremont-Smith, who had practiced medicine on MDI for 36 years. There are now 5 free beds available at the Hospital.
1924 A new aseptic hospital room and etherizing room are unveiled.
1929 A total of 26 patients are seen during a single week in January; this is reported as an all-time record for the Hospital.
1931 Trustees rename the Hospital “The Mount Desert Island Hospital” to recognize Island-wide support for the institution.
1937 A new brick wing provides additional acute care rooms, an obstetrical area, and a Radiology Department.
1942 In response to a shortage of RNs, MDI Hospital launched a Nurses’ Aide program in concert with the American Red Cross. In its first year, there are 9 graduates.
1945 673 patients admitted; 121 babies born.
1947 In October of the driest year on record, small fires spread into a devastating blaze that destroys 17,188 acres and 237 homes. MDIH nurses and staff members strive to maintain a calm atmosphere inside the Hospital and receive much praise for their efforts. As the fire progresses, volunteer fire crews stand guard as patients are moved from the main wooden structure to the brick wing; the following day, bed patients are safely transferred to Eastern Maine General Hospital in Bangor.
1948 Hospital activity is at its highest level ever: 2,261 patients admitted; 446 babies born. Operating costs are recorded as $133,362.
1948 The Mount Desert Island Hospital Auxiliary is formed by 34 physicians’ wives and representatives of other Island organizations. Its purpose is stated as follows: “To promote among the women of the Island an active interest in the Hospital and its needs, and to provide ways and means of assistance.”
1949 The Emergency Room becomes a separate unit.
1956 A new ambulance is donated to MDI Hospital in memory of Edward Browning, Jr., a former chair of the Board of Trustees. The vehicle will be staffed and housed by Bar Harbor’s police and fire departments.
1956 A new, complete X-ray system is installed, paid for by a Ford Foundation grant. The first staff radiologist, Dr. Walter Herbert, joins the Hospital soon after.
1957 With the help of the American Red Cross, a group of volunteers are trained as Gray Ladies, providing much-needed lay assistance to Hospital nurses and employees.
1957 Bequests from the Kane and Grant estates substantially increase MDIH’s endowment fund.
1958 Hospital President Dale Foley reports that in the years following the end of World War II, MDIH’s admissions are up 169%, surgical procedures increased by 242%, and laboratory tests are up 453%.
1959 The Nurses’ Home on Wayman Lane burns to the ground. Eight of the Hospital’s 19 registered nurses are residing there; all were at work when the blaze began.
1961 Groundbreaking ceremonies are held for a new Hospital building to replace the original wooden structure.
1961 1,861 admissions are recorded for the year.
1962 A new fire-resistant brick structure gives MDIH a fully modernized emergency room, its first pharmacy headed by a registered pharmacist, an upgraded surgical suite with recovery room, and 57 new patient beds. Each floor has a solarium. Other amenities include a cafeteria, laundry room, elevators, and a lobby with a gift shop. The building is planned, built, and partially financed by Islanders.
1966 The cost of a room is $40 per day.
1968 The new Medical Arts Building (later to be known as Cooper-Gilmore Health Center) offers office space close to the Hospital for doctors. This is intended to address the Island’s worsening shortage of physicians. Medical Associates, a group practice of four physicians, begins work in the Medical Arts Building.
1969 Completion of the Extended Care Wing makes MDI Hospital one of the best-equipped hospitals in New England. This addition includes patient beds, a large, modern Laboratory, a Physical Therapy department, and administrative office space. The second floor of this new wing is left unfinished, for future expansion needs.
1970 On Christmas Eve, the Island experiences an extended power outage. The Hospital’s backup generator fails, and nurses deliver supper trays by flashlight before the power returns.
1971 Installation of a centralized oxygen system, and acquisition of a transport incubator.
1972 The Intensive and Coronary Care Unit opens.
1978 MDIH has 66 acute care beds and 26 skilled nursing beds.
1982 Ultrasound imaging is introduced, revolutionizing diagnostics.
1983 MDI Hospital surgeons perform the Island’s first intraocular lens transplant, a treatment for cataracts.
1984 A trend toward family-centered childbirth leads to the opening of two specially equipped birthing rooms. MDI Hospital also purchases its own mammography machine for the early detection of breast cancer and a chemical analyzer.
1985 The Ambulatory Surgery Unit opens, reflecting a shift toward shorter hospital stays.
1985 MDI Hospital launches the Island’s first treatment program for chemical dependency.
1988 Launch of the Cardiac Rehabilitation program.
1991 An outpatient Oncology Service is established so that MDIH patients will not have to travel to Bangor for treatments.
1992 Dedication of Dr. Llewellyn W. Cooper Surgical Suite.
1992 Epidural anesthesia is now available for OB patients.
1993 Opening of the Women’s Health Center, the Hospital’s first nurse-midwife begins work.
1993 The Oncology Department logs its 1,000th treatment.
1995 A new computer system is introduced to improve efficiencies in accounting and medical recordkeeping.
1995 The Family Health Center is opened in Bar Harbor, and the Community Health Center opens in Southwest Harbor.
1996 High Street Health Center becomes part of MDIH.
1997 The Hospital acquires a Spiral CT Scanner, which cuts exam times in half and provides more detailed information.
1997 The Breast Center opens, featuring personalized care and a state-of-the-art mammography unit.
1997 Medical Associates becomes an integrated unit of the Hospital.
2000 MDIH receives Critical Access Hospital (CAH) designation. The designation recognizes the unique role played by small, rural hospitals in their communities and provides a higher rate of reimbursement for care of Medicare patients.
2001 MDI Hospital’s Behavioral Health Center is established to provide professional, confidential, and supportive mental health and chemical dependency services for residents of Hancock County and parts of Washington County, Maine.
2001 MDI Hospital breaks ground on Birch Bay Village Retirement Community.
2002 The Hospital holds a grand opening celebration for the Trenton Health Center, its first off-Island clinic.
2003 The Orthopedics clinic opens.
2005 MDIH unveils a new Obstetrics Department and the Cadillac Mountain Medical Building opens.
2007 The new Colket Inpatient Care Center provides spacious, modern facilities for patients and visitors.
2008 The new Community Health Center in Southwest Harbor opens, offering primary care, behavioral health, physical and occupational therapy, care management, and alternative medicine.
2009 The Don and Beth Straus Center opens next to the Community Health Center, providing a day program for seniors with memory loss to enjoy a safe, active, therapeutic environment.
2010 MDI Hospital’s new Oncology and Hematology Department opens in the space previously occupied by Administration and Care Management. The second-floor facility offers nearly 1000 square feet of additional space, ensuring more privacy and comfort for patients.
2011 An innovative collaboration between MDI Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania brings cutting-edge practices and procedures to the Emergency Department. For several weeks each summer, physicians, and nurses from Penn Medicine work alongside their MDI Hospital counterparts in the Emergency Department to share best practices and conduct training on the latest techniques while learning what it takes to practice emergency medicine at a small rural hospital. The multi-year interdisciplinary collaboration also brings leading experts to MDI Hospital for continuing medical education on the latest from academic research.
2011 MDI Hospital creates the nation’s first-ever Experienced Certified Nursing Assistant program. This certification program, accredited by Eastern Maine Community College, offers formal education to 12 CNAs from 6 area hospitals to enable them to offer a greater level of care for their patients.
2013 The Women’s Health Center celebrates its 20th anniversary and kicks off construction of the Lisa Stewart Women’s Health Center on Main Street in Bar Harbor. The facility will offer greater access, convenience and privacy for the center’s growing practice that serves women of all ages from throughout the greater MDI area.
2013 MDI Hospital joins with Tufts University School of Medicine to become the only hospital in Hancock County to participate in the Maine Track Program, designed to bring top medical students back to Maine to practice medicine.
2014 The new Lisa Stewart Women’s Health Center opens its doors, offering the community a greatly expanded home for women’s health. The center was made possible by an outpouring of community and donor support.
2014 MDI Hospital establishes the Community Dental Center in Southwest Harbor, the first nonprofit dental center on MDI.
2015 MDI Hospital is rated five-stars by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the top ranking available, obtained by only 251 hospitals nationally.
