History
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.
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.
1969
St. Mary’s Home Health Care Services begins, the second hospital-based home health care service in Georgia. Hospice services are added in 1991.
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.
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.
2002
St. Mary’s opens a $40 million renovation and expansion project to establish Athens’ first acute rehabilitation unit, create the region’s first family-friendly Family Birth Center, and expand and improve Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, women’s services, radiology, endoscopy, and the emergency department.
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.
2009
Don McKenna chosen to be St. Mary’s third lay President and CEO.
2012
Jan. 1 – St. Mary’s acquires Saint Joseph at East Georgia in Greensboro from Saint Joseph Health System of Atlanta and changed its name to St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital.
2012
June 12 – St. Mary’s announced 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
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.
2013
May 1- Trinity Health and Catholic Health East Mark First Day as a Consolidated System.
2013
June 14- The personal care and memory care units at St. Mary’s Highland Hills Village passed rigorous state inspections for assisted living communities, making Highland Hills the first personal care facility in the Athens-Oconee area to successfully upgrade to licensure as an assisted living community.
2013
Nov. 25- St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital opened its modern new facility at 5401 Lake Oconee Parkway.
2014
Jan. 28- The Internal Medicine Residency Program, a joint effort of the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership and St. Mary’s Health Care System, received accreditation.
2014
Nov 19- Our parent company changed their name to Trinity Health.
2015
- St. Mary’s acquires Ty Cobb Regional Medical Center in Lavonia and renames it St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital.
- St. Mary’s and the Internal Medicine Residency Program welcome their first class of physician residents.
2016
A $13 million expansion and upgrade program begins to expand two robot-ready operating rooms and update St. Mary’s Hospital’s central energy plant.
2017
St. Mary’s Hospital introduces the region’s first neurosurgical interventional biplane system, which makes mechanical thrombectomy possible. Also, Montez Carter chosen to be St. Mary’s fourth lay President and CEO.
2022
March 31: St. Mary’s Hospital is certified by The Joint Commission as the state’s first Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center.