Delivering Care to Huron for 75 Years
December 12, 2022
75 years ago, on November 21, 1947, in a crippling snowstorm, the hospital that would eventually become Huron Regional Medical Center (HRMC) opened its doors. The first patients were 11 babies transferred from the Sprague Hospital. Several people have expressed that they may be one of the two newborns pictured being carried up the steps to the brand-new St. John’s Hospital. The late Eugene (Gene) Burdick, born November 16, 1947, at Sprague Hospital in Huron, just might be one of those shown in that photograph, according to his brother Don Burdick. “Our mother spoke of being transferred to St. John’s in hearses as they didn’t have ambulances to transport the patients” he recalls. “Gene was the oldest of five children and was carried up those steps by the nuns. I am the second oldest in the family of five kids and was born at what is now HRMC,” said Burdick, a 42-year veteran of the ambulance service in Huron.
First Patients, St. John's Hospital
Following transport of the 11 babies to the new facility, 119 other patients were transferred to St. John’s Hospital over its first few days in business. The 140-bed facility was developed by Reverend J.J. O’Neil, who envisioned a fully equipped and modern hospital to serve the community. St. John’s, operated by the Franciscan Sisters, opened just in time to serve the influx of polio patients that would soon house an entire floor of the facility as the first cases of polio appeared in 1948.
Thirty years later, in July of 1978, St. John’s Hospital was purchased by the community and incorporated as Huron Regional Medical Center with oversight from a board of directors composed of community members, medical staff, city and county leaders. That same oversight structure still stands today, with a governing board made up of leaders that live and work in the community and have preserved the goal to provide modern medical technology and care in a rural environment.
“While the landscape of health care has, and will continue to change, our employees’ dedication and commitment to providing excellent healthcare has never wavered,” said Erick Larson, president and CEO for HRMC. “When you look at our predecessors and the foundation laid here, there has been a lot of good work done. Ultimately, our goal is to provide value and great care to our community and I’m proud of our ability to do just that.”
Pride in that ability to truly care for the community in which they live is a common theme among caregivers at HRMC. Dawn Johnson, clinical analyst, spent over 35 years as a labor and delivery nurse at the hospital and is thankful for the years she spent caring for neighbors and friends. While speculation still stands on exactly who the infants in the arms of the Franciscan Sisters entering St. Johns might have been on that snowy day in 1947, Dawn distinctly remembers many of the patients she has cared for. “It’s funny—when we go to graduations, sometimes I remember what room number at the hospital the graduates were born in,” laughed Johnson. She also shared her high hopes for every infant she cared for, “I used to tell each baby that was born under my care that someday they could be President of the United States. I hope one of them will.”
Whether a new birth, emergency services, or preventative medicine close to home, the vision born in 1947 to provide care to the community remains. Recollections of growth and change paired with a focus on the future bring HRMC to where we stand with you today…75 years of care, right here in Huron.
Photo cutlines:
Photo 1: In November of 1947, Dr. Saxton, Mother Jerome and another sister of the Franciscan Sisters carry infants up the steps to the newly opened St. John’s Hospital, which would eventually become Huron Regional Medical Center
Photo 2: A nurse cares for an infant at St. John’s Hospital, prior to the transition to Huron Regional Medical Center.
Photo 3: Jessica Goth, RN, cares for a newborn in the HRMC Birthing Center, renovated in 2018 to provide the latest technology as well as eight spacious labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum rooms and four additional postpartum rooms.
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