Meriter Milestones

Early 1880's
The movement to establish a public hospital began with Ella Giles, a Madison librarian and published author. She and fellow members of the fledgling Madison Women's Club are devoted supporters of the hospital movement, and the catalysts for its eventual success. In the years that follow several attempts to establish and run hospitals fail, leaving supporters demoralized but unwavering in their conviction.

1898 - Madison General Hospital Association articles of incorporation are signed. It will be five more years before a permanent home is built with funds raised from the City of Madison and local philanthropists such as the Madison Women's Club and Attic Angels.

1899
Nurses training begins under the guidance of Mary Hayes, who operated one of Madison General Hospital Associationís predecessor hospitals. The original class of two students completed two years of training.

1902
Minnie Hobbins leads a vigorous fund-raising campaign that ultimately persuades the Madison City Council to pledge $15,000 toward a new general hospital building. The Attic Angels Association kicks off a public appeal by pledging $1,200, then leads a successful door-to-door campaign to raise funds.

1903
Less than a year after it opens, the new Madison General Hospital reaches its capacity of 30 patients. The first baby is delivered on October 20; Alice Ashford Sheldon Davis. Her mother names her after the head nurse (Miss Ashford) and doctor (Dr. Sheldon) who delivered her.

1912
Madison General Hospital adds a West Wing, bringing its capacity to 85 beds. The cost of the addition is $94,000. Dr. James Jackson and three of his sons donate funds to outfit a "modern" surgical suite, but stipulate that only Jackson Clinic surgeons can use it. Eight years later, a dispute over this stipulation causes the Jacksons to move their affiliation to the Methodist Hospital.

1914
Obstetrics Department becomes a separate entity at Madison General.

1919
Wisconsin Methodist Hospital and Home Association articles of incorporation are signed. The association buys a building on West Washington Avenue and South Henry Street.

1920
The Jackson doctors sign an agreement with Methodist to provide regular medical and surgical staff for the hospital.

1921
Methodist Hospital School of Nursing is established, with Miss Carolyn Fanny serving as superintendent.

1924
Grace Crafts, a nurse, becomes Madison General Hospital's first administrator. She and the board president work together to determine the daily menu.

1926
The Wisconsin Grand Lodge of the Temple of Freemasonry lays a cornerstone for the new Methodist Hospital building. Annual admissions to Methodist are 1,600.

1927
First patient admitted to the new Methodist Hospital building. It has 125 beds and five operating rooms. Innovations include night-lights in patient rooms and two automatic elevators.

1929
Madison General Hospital completes its Center Wing, bringing total patient capacity to 175.

1930
Due to the Depression and economic troubles, food is accepted in lieu of monetary payment for hospital services. Admission requirements to the Methodist School of Nursing: four years of high school, good Christian character, between the ages of 17 1/2 & 35, good teeth and a letter from a pastor.

1940
Methodist Hospital joins Madison General and St. Marys in offering a low-cost, non-profit group pre-payment hospital plan to various employed groups in Madison.

1943
Food supply rationing creates a need for a call for food donations. Madison General Hospital opens McConnell Hall, a classroom and residence hall for its school of nursing. It is named after Frank T. McConnell, whose bequest - along with money from the Public Works Administration - funded the project.

1949
Grace Craft leads the effort to start a Women's Auxiliary at Madison General Hospital.

1950
Methodist Hospital marks its 30th anniversary. The salary for a registered nurse is $200 per month. Methodist adopts a 40-hour workweek.

Madison General Hospital begins construction of an East Wing. Birth rooms, laboratory facilities and a new surgical suite are included in the seven-floor addition.

1953
The Women's Auxiliary of Madison General donates $1,135 to furnish a children's room, or "Bambino Room," to be used to give feeding and bathing demonstrations to new mothers.

1957
Madison General Medical and Surgical Research Foundation established.

Madison General Hospital becomes affiliated with the UW Medical School in that Madison General staff give obstetrics training to UW medical students.

1962
Methodist Hospital's Psychiatric Center opens. A new nursing building is completed. Hospital purchases a polarized x-ray unit that prints x-rays in 10 seconds. Patients are still allowed to smoke in their rooms.

1963
Madison General Hospital opens its North Wing, and demolishes the original 1903 building to make room. The new addition houses the hospital's Psychiatry and Rehabilitation programs.

Methodist Hospital opens its new Intensive Care Unit, the first hospital in the city to adopt a new principle of combining all critically ill patients in one area rather than in individual units for specific classes of patient care.

1964
The Oscar Rennebohm Foundation gives Methodist Hospital a cardiac monitor, the first of its kind in Wisconsin. Annual admissions are more than 2,200.

First male student graduates from Madison General School of Nursing.

1967
Groundbreaking for a new Methodist Hospital building addition. The new facility will include more conference rooms, air conditioning, a new emergency room, and x-ray and surgery departments.

Methodist performs its first, and the city's first, coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

1969
Madison General allows fathers to be present in the delivery room.

1970
The Methodist Health Foundation is established.

Madison General Hospital finishes construction on its new laboratory on South Brooks Street (the current Meriter Laboratories building) and parking ramp.

1971
Methodist Hospital's Hemodialysis Center is dedicated.

Smoking is restricted to specific public areas at Madison General Hospital.

1972
Madison General finishes construction of its Tower addition. The NewStart Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program, Perinatal Center and Cardiac Rehabilitation programs are operating.

1974
Methodist Hospital School of Nursing graduates its final senior class. More than 1,000 students have graduated from the school since its inception in 1921.

1980
Nurse internship program is added at Methodist Hospital. The program's goal is to assist new graduates in assuming the responsibilities of practitioners in a clinical setting.

1982
With the emphasis in nurses' training having evolved toward four-year programs, Madison General closes its school of nursing. Assistance with nursesí training continues through programs at Edgewood College and Madison Area Technical College.

Rabbi Manfred Swarsensky Chapel opens at Madison General.

Methodist Hospital reorganizes into Methodist Health Services.

1983
Methodist Hospital installs a new CAT scanner.

Madison General Hospital reorganizes into General Health Services.

1986
Methodist and Madison General boards meet to discuss how the hospitals should respond to Physicians Plus and Jackson Clinic merger discussions.

Methodist Hospital opens its Women's Center.

1987
General Health Services and Methodist Health Services, the parent companies of Madison General Hospital and Methodist Hospital, merge to become Meriter Health Services. Madison General and Methodist - Madison's two oldest hospitals - become Meriter Hospital.

1989
Meriter opens its Birthing Center, becoming the first area hospital to offer single-room maternity care to families in southern Wisconsin.

1990
Hospital consolidation takes place. During an eight-day span, most inpatient services remaining at Meriter Hospital/Methodist - including ER, Cardiology, ICU and IMCU - move to Meriter Hospital/Madison General.

1996
Meriter leads a community effort in the use of a "Healthy Community Model" of collaboration, and adopts the Allied Drive neighborhood. With the YMCA, creates a child respite center specifically for neighborhood residents.

1998
Meriter celebrates a century of providing health care services to people and families throughout southcentral Wisconsin. Celebration kicks off on January 1 when Mary DiSalvo, the oldest-known living person born at Madison General, presents flowers to the first baby born in Madison in 1998, Regan Batterman.

Meriter opens its new Atrium addition, a 117,000-square-foot addition that houses the new Emergency Room, Community Health Education Center, and cardiology and pulmonary departments.

2004
Meriter begins construction on its Tower and Atrium expansion project. When completed, this expansion will feature Meriter's new Heart Hospital.

Meriter opens the first accredited Chest Pain Center in Wisconsin, and a standalone Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Hospital.

2006
Meriter holds a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the opening of a Newborn Intensive Care Unit. The NICU is slated to open in 2007, and will provide an environment unmatched in the area that combines a quiet, healing environment with leading edge medical and technical care.

Meriter's Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation programs receive certifications from the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR).

Baby-Friendly USA awards Meriter Hospital the prestigious international recognition as a Baby-Friendly (tm) Birthing Center. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize facilities that provide optimal levels of care for breastfeeding mothers and their babies.

Meriter becomes the first hospital in the region to begin offering Birmingham hip resurfacing. Patients benefit from an innovative rehabilitation stay called HipHab, which features aquatic and land therapy.

Meriter is one of 173 hospitals in the United States – and one of three in Wisconsin – to earn recognition for our cardiac patient care through the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association "Get with the Guidelines" program. This ensures that patients consistently receive cardiac and stroke care in accordance with the most up-to-date guidelines and recommendations.

Meriter launches a new meal service called "As You Like It" that lets patients decide what and when they want to eat. In one quarter, this moves Food & Nutrition Services patient satisfaction scores into the top 10% nationally.

Meriter is named one of the top 100 hospitals for its cardiovascular care by Solucient. This group focuses on heart attack mortality, post-operative conditions and adherence to best practices. Only four other hospitals in Wisconsin were awarded this honor.

Meriter Hospital offers patients the services of a Palliative Care Team, whose goal is to relieve suffering and improve the quality of life for people with life-threatening illnesses, and their families.

For the second straight year, Wisconsin Forward Award recognizes Meriter Hospital at the Mastery Level.

Physicians redefine hysterectomies at Meriter by performing a minimally invasive surgical alternative - Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy (LSH). Through LSH, women experience less scarring and pain, and a shorter recovery than traditional open abdominal surgery. It can be done on an outpatient basis, so that typically women can return home within 24 hours and return to day-to-day activity within a week, on average.

Meriter Home Health's HomeCare Agency is one of six home health agencies in Wisconsin – and the only one located in the south-central Wisconsin region – to earn national recognition for quality. The "HomeCare Elite Award for 2006" is symbolic of Meriter Home Health achieving a Top 500 ranking among nearly 7,000 home health agencies nationwide. That ranking places them among the Top 25% of agencies, as well.

Terri Potter – Meriter's CEO for the past 17 years – announces his retirement.

2007
Jim Woodward becomes Meriter's new President & CEO.

Meriter is honored with the Wisconsin Forward Award Governor's Award of Excellence. The Award of Excellence is the highest achievement level possible in this prestigious program.
 

5/5/2008