Timeline

1906
Drs. Henry Marshall Fullilove and J. Peebles Proctor open St. Mary’s Hospital in a residence on North Milledge Avenue. The hospital is closed in 1937 following their deaths.
1938
At the request of leaders of civic and medical groups in Athens, the Diocese of Georgia buys the hospital and property. Members of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus reopen and operate St. Mary’s.
1954
St. Mary’s is accredited by the newly-formed Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals (later renamed the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations). St. Mary’s has been continuously accredited ever since, most recently in 2006.
1966
St. Mary’s Hospital moves from Milledge Avenue to a larger, more modern building on Baxter Street. New services include an intensive care unit. Edward J. Fechtel Jr., is named as St. Mary’s first lay administrator.
1970
St. Mary’s Home Health Care Services begins, the second hospital-based home health care service in Georgia. Hospice services are added in 1991.
1978
St. Mary’s neonatal intensive care unit opens, providing lifesaving care and technology to premature infants and extremely ill babies.
1983
The hospital opens a new Intensive Care Unit and adds a sixth floor to the main tower. The new medical/surgical unit brings St. Mary's licensed capacity to 196 beds.
1985
A free-standing Outpatient Surgical Center is opened and new space is added for radiology, cardiopulmonary, rehabilitation and more.
1990
At the request of the community, St. Mary’s begins providing hospice services in Clarke County and later expands hospice to include a 13-county area.
1991
St. Mary’s acquires the 120-bed Athens Health Care Center, now known as St. Mary’s Hospital Long Term Care Facility.
1992
New surgical suite opens, providing large new operating rooms, new pre-op and post-anesthesia recovery areas and sophisticated sterilization procedures.
1993
St. Mary’s changes its legal name from Saint Mary’s Hospital of Athens, Inc., to St. Mary’s Health Care System, Inc. to better reflect the continuum of care it provides.
1997
St. Mary’s acquires Highland Hills Village, a retirement community near Bogart, enhancing its continuum of care for people of all ages.
1999
The University of Georgia Athletic Association designates St. Mary’s as its official health care provider. The agreement has been continuously renewed ever since.
1999
St. Mary’s celebrates its change in sponsorship from the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and its full membership in Catholic Health East. Thomas E. Fitz, Jr., becomes St. Mary’s second lay President and CEO.
2000
St. Mary’s announces a new emphasis in five medical specialties with the goal of becoming known as the region’s leading provider of care in: Neurosciences, Orthopedics, Women’s Health, Children’s Health and Gastroenterology. A special focus on Senior Services is added in 2002 and on Cardiac Care in 2005
2000
St. Mary’s, in cooperation with the Medical College of Georgia, begins offering Children’s Specialty Services, providing expert pediatric medical consultations in Athens.
2000
St. Mary’s introduces the StealthStation neurosurgical platform to Northeast Georgia, providing a highly accurate way for surgeons to perform certain procedures on the spine and brain.
2001
St. Mary’s opens the Clute Barrow Nelson Children’s Center, including the region’s largest pediatric-capable general nursing unit. The center is first of its kind in the nation to be named in honor of a child.
2002
St. Mary’s announces a $40 million renovation and expansion project to establish Athens’ first acute rehabilitation unit and improve neurosciences, women’s services, labor and delivery services, radiology, emergency medical care and more.
2002
In cooperation with Athens area physicians, St. Mary’s launches Athens’ first hospitalist program.
2003
The Center for Rehabilitative Medicine, a 20-bed unit devoted to the care of patients recovering from neurological disorders and major orthopedic procedures.
2004
St. Mary’s is certified as North Georgia’s first Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
2006
St. Mary’s becomes one of the first hospitals in the U.S. to implant a new wireless cardiac resynchronization therapy device that can communicate vital information to physicians from the patient’s home.
2006
Georgia Alliance of Community Hospital's named St. Mary's "Hospital of the Year" in the large hospital category.
2006
PHA, the Partnership for Health and Accountability, announces that St. Mary's achieved a perfect score of 100 - the highest in the state - for quality of care delivered in 2005.
2006
St. Mary's introduces the regions' first 64-slice CT scanner, the Toshiba Aquilion 64 CFX.
2006
St. Mary's is named a Neuroscience Center of Excellence by NeuroSource. St. Mary's is one of only 46 such centers in the US and one of two in Georgia.
2007
In January, Athens Cardiac Arrhythmia Center opens at St. Mary's. It is the first practice of its kind in the Athens are, providing a 'one stop shop' for the care and treatment of irregular heart rhythms.
2007
In February, St. Mary's Center for Rehabilitative Medicine is accredited for the first time by CARF, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
2007
In March, St. Mary's is named one of 19 Top CARE Hospitals in Georgia by the Georgia Hospital Association, which cited excellence in 6 key healthcare measures including, patient safety, core quality measures and cost.
2007
In April, St. Mary's opened a new, state-of-the-art Cardiac Catheterization and Electrophysiology Laboratory. Both labs are capable of handling the implementation of pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators.
2007
St. Mary's becomes one of the first 25 hospitals in the nation to be certified as a center for the care and treatment of heart failure by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
2008
St. Mary's joins with cardiologists John Layher, M.D., and L. Steven Lowman, M.D., in April to form Oconee Heart & Vascular Center, a new, full-service cardiovascular practice to serve the Athens area.
2008
On July 10, St. Mary's celebrates the 70th anniversary of the hospital's reopening in 1938 by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
2008
St. Mary's breaks ground on October 23 for a $5.5 million, 34-bed Alzheimer's/Dementia Care Facility on the campus of Highland Hills Village.
2008
The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations awards St. Mary's its Gold Seal of Approval for knee replacement.
2008
President and CEO Thomas Fitz steps down on December 31 after leading St. Mary's for nearly 10 years, a period of unprecedented growth for the system.
2009
Don McKenna, former Administrator/Chief Operating Officer of Wuesthoff Medical Center in Melbourne, Fla., on January 5 takes office as President and CEO of St. Mary's Health Care System.
2010
St. Mary's receives the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award
2010
Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals names St. Mary’s as Georgia’s Large Hospital of the Year for the second time in only four years.
2010
St. Mary’s and Angela McSwain, M.D., open St. Mary’s Neurological Services in Watkinsville.
2011
St. Mary’s is named the Number 1 hospital in Georgia for total joint replacement surgery in 2011 by Georgia Trend magazine.
2011
Several medical practices join St. Mary's Medical Group, including Northeast Cardiology, Athens Internal Medicine and Athens General and Colorectal Surgeons.
2011
Stroke survivor Sally Baker and St. Mary’s Foundation host the inaugural Next Step 5K to raise funds for St. Mary’s stroke care programs.
2011
St. Mary's introduces numerous medical advances to the Athens area, including the region's first MRI-safe implantable pacemaker on March 17 and the region's first O-arm Multidimensional Imaging System for spine surgery on March 29.
2011
St. Mary’s announces it has signed a letter of intent to purchase St. Joseph’s East Georgia in Greensboro and plans to construct a new, modern facility to better serve the people of the Greensboro/Lake Oconee region.
2011
The American Hospital Association announces that St. Mary’s has received the Circle of Life Award Citation of Honor for palliative and hospice care. Only seven organizations in the United States are recognized, three with the full award and four, including St. Mary's, as honorees.
2012
Jan. 1 – St. Mary’s acquires Saint Joseph at East Georgia in Greensboro from Saint Joseph Health System of Atlanta and soon changes its name to St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital.
2012
Feb. 27 – The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners and International Lactation Consultant Association recognize St. Mary’s breastfeeding program with the IBCLC Care Award.
2012
Feb. 28 – St. Mary’s first minimally invasive patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure is performed by interventional cardiologist Patrick Willis, M.D., in St. Mary’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. At roughly the same time, the lab introduces new technology to allow for radial access PCI as well as interventional catheterization for peripheral artery disease.
2012
March 1 – Eric Silver, M.D., joins St. Mary’s Medical Group in Greensboro. His practice is named St. Mary’s Women’s Center.
2012
June 12 – St. Mary’s announces its commitment to developing a Graduate Medical Education program – medical residencies – in partnership with the Georgia Health Sciences University/University of Georgia Partnership Medical School.
2012
July 3 – James Tippett, M.D., joins St. Mary’s Medical Group in Greensboro. His practice is named Middle Georgia Medical Associates.
2012
July 12 – The American Heart Association awards St. Mary’s its Mission: Lifeline Bronze Quality Achievement Award for heart attack care.
2012
Aug. 16 – St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital breaks ground for a new replacement hospital on Ga. 44 between West Lake Road and Carey Station Road. Grading begins the week of Oct. 15.
2012
Sept. 10 – St. Mary’s receives the Healthcare Financial Management Association MAP Award for revenue cycle improvement.
2012
Sept. 26 – Northeast Georgia’s first robotic single-site cholecystectomy is performed at St. Mary’s by Sergio Mejias, M.D., using St. Mary’s da Vinci Si robotic surgical system.
2012
Oct. 4 – National Research Corporation presents St. Mary’s with its 2012 Path to Excellence Award for improving patient satisfaction scores related to information and education.