Huntington
Hospital was founded as a result of a charitable
act. In 1914, recognizing that the nine bed Winkworth
Cottage Hospital on New Street could no longer meet
the needs of a growing community, Cornelia Prime,
daughter of a prominent New York banking family,
donated a house located on five acres of land on
Park Avenue. The original hospital still stands today,
adjacent to the main structure. Construction commenced
under the direction of a community board of trustees
and on May 1, 1916, Huntington Hospital formally
opened to receive its first patients. With 18 adult
and 4 children's beds plus 6 bassinets, and 16 attending
physicians, the new hospital admitted 334 patients
in its first year. The average cost per patient was
$3.36 a day.
May 26, 1917 marks the anniversary of the first
formal meeting of the Women's Auxiliary of Huntington
Hospital. This organization of volunteers also
began as a result of charitable intent as it was
organized for the purpose of "raising and
disbursing funds to provide supplies, not including
drugs, for the hospital and its patients."
The hospital steadily outgrew its original quarters
and as a result of a fund raising effort spearheaded
by the Chamber of Commerce, a new building with 70
adult beds, 7 children's beds and 16 bassinets opened
its doors on September 23, 1933. That building is
today's West Wing of the hospital. The Auxiliary
had 270 members, helped raise money for the new hospital
and donated a Chrysler ambulance to transport patients
in need of emergency care.
By the 1950's the town had grown dramatically and
the hospital leadership recognized the need to grow
with it. On October 26, 1958, the East Wing was dedicated.
Beds numbered 195, admissions exceeded 12,000 and
births totaled 2,610.
Intent on keeping pace with the demands of a rapidly
expanding community, the 1960's saw unprecedented
hospital expansion as well. In 1962 the six story
South Wing opened, followed by the first stage of
the North Wing in 1969 and stage two in 1971. Bed
capacity reached 398.
Growth in population meant more patients and the
need for more services; far more services than the
existing facility could handle. We entered the 1980's
with a $19 million Northeast Wing construction giving
rise to a Kidney Dialysis Unit, Coronary Care Unit,
Ambulatory Surgery Unit, Emergency Room, 30 bed Maternity
and Nursery, CAT scanner and six laboratories. All
new, all state-of-the-art, and all ready to meet
the medical and technological needs of a sophisticated
and burgeoning community.
The beginning of the 1990's gave us little warning
as to what to expect. Managed care would change the
face of how medical care would be delivered and how
it would be paid for, breast cancer was reaching
epidemic proportions on Long Island and a shifting
population brought an influx of new immigrants, working
poor and medically indigent. Again, the volunteer
and professional leadership rallied to meet the needs
of this community. In 1993 a successful fund raising
campaign enabled us to open a dedicated Breast Care
Center which featured Suffolk County's first stereotactic
needle biopsy machine. In 1994, a $5.5 million fund
raising capital campaign was instituted for the purpose
of building Long Island's first privately funded
primary care facility for the medically underserved.
In October, 1995 the 19,000 square foot Dolan Family
Health Center, named as a result of a $1 million
lead gift from the Dolan Family Foundation, opened
its doors, thus ensuring the availability of accessible
and affordable primary care for all Huntington residents
regardless of their ability to pay.
With the opening of the Surgical Services Pavilion
in December 2004, another important fund raising
capital campaign came to fruition. At this time,
the hospital more than doubled in square footage
its surgical facility. Ten new operating rooms were
equipped with the latest surgical technologies including
robotic arms, flat screen monitors, harmonic scalpels,
specialized lasers, and Xenon lighting. In addition
to providing patients with state-of-the-art services
available close to home, the Surgical Services Pavilion
also allowed for a streamlining of services. All
pre-admission testing needs were now able to be handled
within this one convenient location.
Today Huntington Hospital has 408 inpatient beds,
although due to the shift in outpatient and ambulatory
services, beds, bricks or mortar no longer define
hospitals. A creditable history of nearly a century
of growth, meeting needs, keeping abreast of the
latest medical technology accomplished by visionary
leadership, with community involvement, voluntarism
and charitable donations, has set the stage for the
hospital to address the challenges that lie ahead
in this 21st century.
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