The History of Gadsden Regional Medical Center

The story of Gadsden Regional Medical Center is dramatic and inspiring. From a modest beginning, the hospital has steadily grown to its present size and position of eminence. This has been due in large measure to the spirit of cooperation that has existed among the administration, Board of Trustees, Medical Staff, employees and the people of Gadsden and surrounding areas.

Founded in 1906, The Ralls Sanitarium was a small 25-bed hospital until 1944, when it was sold to Etowah Baptist Association, and the name was changed to Baptist Memorial Hospital. A new facility housing 199 beds was dedicated at the present site on property donated by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in 1963. Expansion projects during the next fifteen years included four additional floors with total beds growing to 346 and a four-story medical office building connected to the facility.

Closely connected to the community, an area fund drive provided the needed capital to build a state of the art Cancer Center in 1987, designed by the leading radiation oncologist at UAB. Within two years, a five-story medical office building was completed and in 1991 the Open Heart Program began. Shortly thereafter, the OB floor was renovated to provide LDR services for the 1,200+ babies born annually at GRMC.

With health care changing nationally, the local scene brought a new owner for Baptist Memorial Hospital when Quorum Healthcare Group purchased the facility in 1993 and changed the name to Gadsden Regional Medical Center. New leadership encouraged expanding services and the first Occupational Medicine clinic in Etowah County was opened on the hospital campus in 1996. A year later, the Outpatient Care Center opened, then another professional building, and the year after, a four-bed accredited Sleep Center.

Gadsden Regional has added many other services, including a Women and Children’s Center, Women’s Resource Center, adult psychiatry, neurosurgery, Level II Trauma emergency department, comprehensive cardiac services, rehabilitation and speech therapy, Outpatient Imaging Center, Healthy Woman and Senior Circle.

In 2006, Gadsden Regional Medical Center began a $28 million expansion to include the construction of a fourstory patient tower and renovate the surgical services. As part of the process, the cardiac catheterization suites and the critical care units were relocated. Centennial Tower adds 60,000 square feet and was opened in October 2008.