History of Memorial Hospital

The year was 1969. With one powerful nudge a tall Southern pine tree was toppled by a bulldozer operated by Florida Governor Claude Kirk. A crowd of enthusiastic onlookers had gathered to witness this act, groundbreaking of Memorial Hospital on Jacksonville's rapidly growing Southside. Over the course of the next 37 years, Memorial Hospital has captured numerous national and international honors.

The groundbreaking ceremony was the culmination of a dream that began in October of 1963. Realizing an ever-pressing need for an increased number of hospital beds in the Duval County area, a group of physicians met to discuss the problem and formulate a solution. In 1964 the Florida Development Commission reported that Duval County was meeting only 55 percent of its hospital bed needs. Through persistence and dedication, eight community leaders overcame political, financial and bureaucratic obstacles to build a state-of-the-art hospital to serve all of Northeast Florida. The eight founding partners of Memorial Hospital Jacksonville were Dr. J. Brooks Brown, Dr. Max Karrer, Dr. Lou Costanza, Dr. Herbert Burke, Frank Sherman, I.M. Sulzbacher, John C. Galvin and Leo A. Brinkley. The hospital was financed by a federal grant, a bond issue purchased by local citizens and mortgages assumed by local insurance companies and a bank.

Memorial Hospital opened its doors on May 2, 1969. It was named in honor of all Jacksonville-area physicians since Dr. James Hall first established a medical practice within the city limits in 1798. Since that day in 1969, Memorial has managed to compile an amazing record of accomplishments. Memorial was one of the first hospitals nationwide to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for non-professionals and in schools. It was the first hospital in Jacksonville to admit a patient delivered by helicopter, a 76-year-old woman whose pacemaker malfunctioned was airlifted by Navy helicopter from Lake City to Memorial in 1971. Memorial was also one of the first hospitals in Jacksonville to go live with an electronic bedside medication verification system, which we call eMAR (electronic medication administration record,) and was the first in Jacksonville to be designated a Bariatric Center of Excellence.