Life on a Tidal River

EMMC Today

Today, EMMC is a huge hospital, ranking as the second largest hospital in Maine, next to Maine Medical Center (MMC) in Portland, Maine. EMMC serves 40% of the population in the state of Maine and is the sixth largest employer in the entire state of Maine. It is now part of Eastern Maine Healthcare System with many clinics and other facilities as well throughout the Bangor area.

EMMC, to this day, remains a non profit hospital and offers many services to the community. These include Advanced Surgical Care of Maine, an Anticoagulation Clinic, CancerCare of Maine, Care Management, Diabetes treatment, Endocrine and Nutrition Center, Digestive Diseases Treatment, Eastern Maine Inpatient Care, Emergency Services, EMMC Lung Cancer Screening Program, EMMC Neurology Specialists, Employee Health, Endoscopy, Epicenter, General Surgery, Hearing Center, Heart Center of Eastern Maine, Imaging Services, Infusion Center, Intensive Care Unit, Interventional Pain Management Clinic, Joint Center, Maine Rehabilitation Center, Men’s Health, Neurosciences, Orthopedics, Palliative Care, Patient and Family Centered Care, Patient Blood Management, Pediatric Services, Pelvic Floor Disorder Treatment, Respiratory Medicine, Rheumatology Specialists, Robotically-assisted Surgery, Sleep Center of Maine, Sports Health, Stroke Center, Surgical Navigation, Surgical Weight Loss Program, Vascular Care of Maine, Wellness Services, and Women’s Services. With these services EMMC has been a substantial addition to the greater Bangor community, and it still continues to amaze every day.

St. Joseph Hospital History

Beginnings

Saint Joseph Hospital in Bangor, Maine, is one of the major medical centers in the city. This hospital, which rises adjacent to the street of Broadway, has a history that spans further back in history than the time it was built. The facility has accommodated many patients in the sixty-five years that the new complex was constructed.

The hospital originated as the Paine Private Hospital on Center street, which is around the back of the new hospital. It was established in 1906 by Ellen Paine, and it kept its name until April 29, 1947, when it was renamed Saint Joseph Hospital by the Felician Sisters. The Felician Sisters, who were from Enfield, Connecticut, purchased it then in that particular year.

In the 1950’s, significantly in 1956, the hospital was provided a grant by the Ford Foundation for $130,000. The money was put forth to build two more sections as an extension to the hospital in existence. One of the new departments was a pediatric ward, which is a section for treating diseases and other things in children. The other division became a doctor’s lounge, dressing room, conference room, and library.

Plans for the new facility started to arise in early 1960 and completed blueprints for the new hospital and thoughts were finished within that year. To accommodate the new hospital, the Fleming property was purchased which was also on Center street next to the old hospital. That property was purchased for $20,000, and that meant that the final cost of starting the new section was raised to $33,000. It was October 11, 1964 when the city of Bangor celebrated the dedication of the new medical center of St. Joseph’s Hospital. Later that year the patients of the old hospital were moved to the new one. This was the end of the beginning of the new St. Joseph Hospital.

Recent Developments

St. Joseph Hospital announced the start of a multi-million dollar renovation to the hospital in March of 1993. This renovation would include a new Emergency Department, new rooms for patients and inpatient and outpatient surgical suites. They never actually started the renovation until two years later in September 1995. To start the ball rolling, the renovation officially began when the first wall was knocked down. This construction would go on for about seven years.

The first major project St. Joseph took on was the Emergency Department. This was completed a year later in November of 1996, and another stage of this renovation, the surgical suites, was completed the year after that in March of 1997. They continued to renovate the hospital in areas such as the Pain Management center in 2000 and the renovations to the Radiology Department also completed in 2000. In 2002, there took place a ribbon-cutting-ceremony for the new MRI center in the medical center. This completed the renovations of the hospital to become the one we know today.

The St. Joseph Hospital also has a multitude of clinics and facilities as well. These are mostle located on 900 Broadway, which is called the St. Joseph Healthcare Park. Some of these include endocrinology, rheumatology, and a nutrition center. These are recent additions to the hospital's network of healthcare options for people. The St. Joseph Hospital is one of the oldest and one of the best hospitals in Maine.

Resources:

Ann Trainor. "One Hundred Years of Caring -- EMMC" Maine Memory Network. Maine Historical Society, 2015. Web. 28 May 2015.

"Awards." Eastern Maine Medical Center. Eastern Maine Medical Center, 2015. Web. 28 May 2015.

"Eastern Maine Medical Center: 1892-1920." Maine Memory Network. Maine Historical Society, 2000-2009. Web. 28 May 2015.

"Eastern Maine Medical Center." EMHS Access to Quality Healthcare. Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, n.d. Web. 3 June 2015.

"Maine Legislature." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2015. Web. 28 May 2015.

"Services List." Eastern Maine Medical Center. Eastern Maine Medical Center, 2015. Web. 28 May 2015.

"St. Joseph Healthcare: History." St. Joseph Healthcare. Covenant Health, 2015. Web. 28 May 2015.

"St. Joseph Healthcare: Our Services." St. Joseph Healthcare. Covenant Health, 2015. Web. 04 June 2015.

"Welcome to Eastern Maine Medical Center. Eastern Maine Medical Center." Maine Memory Network. Maine Historical Society, n.d. Web. 28 May 2015.