• 50^th Anniversary Yearbook
• Year-Long Celebration
• Honoring Past Welcoming Future

50^th Anniversary Yearbook

The Southeast Alabama Medical Center is now offering for sale a commemorative 50th anniversary yearbook that chronicles by decade the history of the hospital from 1957 to today. Read first hand experiences concerning what it has taken to build what is now the best community-owned non-profit healthcare referral center in the Wiregrass region!

The hardback, full-color yearbook also includes a special 50th anniversary DVD that takes viewers on a walk down memory lane as retired and current physicians and employees trace the first fifty years of the hospital. Medical Center CEO Ron Owen and Houston County Healthcare Authority Chairman William Glover offer a historical perspective of the hospital and outline what the future holds for providing excellent healthcare for the changing needs of our area's growing communities.

Yearbook sales will benefit the Southeast Alabama Medical Center Foundation, and Foundation charter members will receive $25 off the general public $50 purchase price! To find out more about the Medical Center's fifty years of health and healing and how you can purchase this memorable piece of history, please stop by the SAMC Gift Shop, the Women's Center Gift Shop or contact the Foundation office at (334) 673-4150.

Year-Long Celebration

For the past 50 years the people of this region have trusted Southeast Alabama Medical Center with their healthcare needs.

We don't take this trust lightly as we strive daily to provide quality healthcare and promote wellness to those we serve. Our vision continues today, just as it was when we opened in 1957, to be recognized as the healthcare provider of choice in our region.

We do this with our dedicated employees and physicians who are committed to providing quality care. In fact, our service philosophy states: Compassion and excellence coming together to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve.

We are also committed, through the support of the Houston County Healthcare Authority, to providing the latest technology and facilities. The Houston County Healthcare Authority is a 13-member board that oversees the operation of the Medical Center. The authority members are appointed by the Houston County Commission.

In honor of the Medical Center's 50th anniversary, we are engaging in a year-long celebration that began in September and will culminate in September 2007. The celebration will include former and current board members, employees, physicians, volunteers and you, the public.

Beginning in September, the Medical Center will offer monthly tours of the hospital. Throughout the year, monthly events are planned to incorporate our 50th anniversary.

A commemorative 50th anniversary yearbook will be published chronicling the history of the hospital from 1957 to today. The coffee table book's chapters will be divided into decades as it examines events going on nationally and locally, as well as significant events at the Medical Center.

In addition to the yearbook, a 50th anniversary DVD will be released highlighting the first fifty years at the Medical Center. The DVD will include interviews with former and current physicians and employees, Ron Owen, CEO, Medical Center and William Glover, chairman, Authority Board.

We will also create a Heritage Wall that will include historic photos and memorabilia. A time capsule will be buried on the Medical Center campus and we'll also have a float in the National Peanut Festival Parade.

The year-long celebration will end in September 2007 with a ribbon cutting and open house for the community.

While we are excited about the year-long celebration, we know we wouldn't be where we are today without the support of the communities we serve.

Thanks for a great first 50 years and we look forward to serving you over the next half century. For more information about the Medical Center or anything related to the 50th anniversary celebrations, please call the Medical Call Center at (334) 712-3336 or at 1-800-735-4998 or visit us at www.samc.org.

Honoring Past Welcoming Future

While Southeast Alabama Medical Center didn't officially open until September 9, 1957, the journey began in earnest almost 11 years earlier on October 11, 1946.

The Houston County Board of Revenue (known today as the Houston County Commission) approved a resolution on that October day to join the Dothan City Commission for a called citizens meeting to explore the idea of a new hospital.

At the time of the resolution, Dothan had two medical facilities, Moody Hospital and Frasier-Ellis. A third facility, Davie Hospital, had closed in Dothan several years prior to the 1946 resolution. The citizens meeting provided positive feedback, thus beginning the process that would culminate with the opening of the Medical Center in 1957.

In May of 1947, the board of revenue appointed a "State Hospital Committee" that consisted of 14 members representing each of the county's beats. A.D. Ussery served as the committee's first chairman.

On October 3, 1949, the board of revenue approved the hospital's certificate of incorporation. Members of the board of revenue in 1949 were Robert Meadows, L.E. "Uncle Doc" Boswell and W. Perry Calhoun.

Meadows, who was from Ashford, made history in 1957 when he became the first patient admitted to the hospital.

A county-wide referendum was held on July 19, 1949, to decide if the board of revenue should levy and collect a tax for the hospital. The referendum would authorize the board of revenue not to exceed four mills on each dollar of taxable property in the county. The tax would be used exclusively for acquiring land through purchase or lease, as well as cost of construction, equipment and maintenance of a county hospital.

The referendum was overwhelmingly passed by a vote of 1,838 in favor and 490 against.

Dothan attorney and state representative Richmond Flowers joined the hospital board in 1949 and would later serve as chairman of the board throughout the construction of the facility.

In December 1950, as debate over the bed capacity for the new hospital continued, the hospital board purchased a 10 acre site for the hospital on U.S. 84 East. The land was purchased for $2,500 from V.R. and Ida Espy Alexander.

However, the land purchase was not without controversy as some argued it was too far out of Dothan. At the time the Ross Clark Circle was not in existence and much of Dothan's population lived close to the downtown area.

There was also discussion about the cost of piping water and installing sewer lines at the U.S. 84 East location. The Houston County Medical Society also objected to the location because it was 2 miles from downtown Dothan and society members believed it was not easily accessible in times of emergency.

The physicians also feared the railroad crossing on East Main Street would delay traffic, especially in an emergency situation.

Property for the new hospital was offered on Highway 52 West toward Hartford. Despite the objections, popular support was to build the hospital on the east side of Dothan so it would be close to Ashford. A compromise was submitted to the board to build the hospital in Ashford. The logic behind the Ashford proposal was it would be closer to the majority of the county's population. In the end, the Ashford and Highway 52 West proposals never garnered much support.

Believing the now 18-member board was slowing down the process of building the hospital, state representative Richmond Flowers introduced a bill in the Alabama Legislature abolishing the board. The bill called for the then Gov. James E. "Big Jim" Folsom to appoint a nine-member board serving staggering terms. Three of the members served two years, three served four years and the remaining three served six years. Once the terms were up, the county board of revenue would appoint members to six year terms.

The new board members were: Flowers (six-year term), Dougie Bailey (six-year term), Joe Wise (six-year term), E.E. Wakefield Sr. (four-year term), Johnny Ingram (four-year term), Howard Ward (four-year term), Aubie D. Thomley (two-year term), Ike Rimson (two-year term) and J.C. Parsons (two-year term).

The nine-member board met on March 15, 1955, at the Houston County Courthouse with an attitude to start construction no later than July 1955. Flowers was elected permanent chairman and pledged to speed up the construction of the hospital.

"I made a pledge to the people of Houston County to build this hospital," Flowers said in a historical account recorded by Ed Driggers. Driggers served as the hospital's first public relations director.

Flowers went on to say, according to Driggers' account, "and, so help me God, I'm going to see that it is built."

With things moving ahead, the board voted on April 15, 1955, to move the building slightly closer to downtown Dothan. It was to be built on a portion of the original 10 acre site, but a portion of it would be built on adjacent land that was being acquired.

Ground breaking ceremonies were held on Sunday afternoon, October 23, 1955. Sen. Lister Hill, D-Ala., who co-authored the Hill-Burton Act, was the keynote speaker at the ground breaking. The Hill-Burton Act, passed in 1946, is designed to provide federal grants and guaranteed loans to improve the physical plant of the nation's hospital system.

Gov. Folsom and other dignitaries joined Sen. Hill along with about 200 people for the groundbreaking ceremony. Sen. Hill called the hospital "a regional hospital for Southeast Alabama…as modern as any in all the world."

As construction neared completion, Dean Byrd Sr., from Plant City, Fla., was hired as the hospital's first administrator in May 1956. In January of 1956, the board voted to call the new hospital - Southeast Alabama General Hospital.

In January of 1957, the board appointed Dr. T.K. M^cFatter as the first medical advisor. Dr. Norman C. Veale became the first radiologist and Nancy Price was named director of nurses.

Formal dedication of the hospital was held on Sunday afternoon, September 7, 1957. Gov. Folsom was the keynote speaker at the dedication ceremony.

The new 111-bed facility was open for business. Since 1957, the Medical Center has been a leading healthcare provider in the region. Today the Medical Center continues to sit proudly at the intersection of Ross Clark Circle and U.S. 84 East. Southeast Alabama Medical Center today is a 370-bed regional referral center with more than 2,500 employees and 250 physicians.

The Dothan Eagle said the following about the Medical Center in 1957, "a gleaming monument which hovers as a guardian over the injured and afflicted…"

Fifty years later, our mission remains to provide quality healthcare and promote wellness to residents of the region. The staff at the Medical Center strive to bring compassion and excellence together to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve.

For more information about the Medical Center please call the Medical Center at 712-3336 or 1-800-735-4998.