Stillwater Medical Center Keeps Community Fit
health care, stillwater, stillwater medical center,
What began in 1939 as a two-story wooden structure to provide health care has grown into Stillwater Medical Center, an award-winning regional care provider.
The original, 40-bed hospital was run by the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, and over the years it continued to grow and eventually moved from city ownership to the Stillwater Municipal Trust Authority. The authority issued revenue bonds in 1973, with the current, 128-bed hospital opening in 1976.
Over its history the hospital has garnered its share of recognition, including the 1979 Oklahoma Quality Award, 2004 and 2005 Top 100 Performance Improvement Leader Awards, and the 2006 Cleverly 5-Star Hospital Award.
With such a long history of service, the hospital takes its role in the community seriously and works to expand its offerings, says Jerry Moeller, president and chief executive officer.
“One of our major changes implemented recently has been the addition of interventional cardiology service,” Moeller says. “An experienced interventionalist, Dr. Gaurav Kumar, was recruited to head the service. Kumar adds to the hospital the capabilities of performing both routine and primary angioplasties, balloon angioplasties and stents, which we had not had. In addition, we can also now perform peripheral angiography, angioplasties and stent placement.
“This program has really boosted our volume in the cath lab as well as the ICU,” Moeller adds. “Our outcomes have been excellent, and the service has been extremely well received by the community and our medical staff.”
Patient comfort is also high on the hospital’s list of priorities, with programs such as the new Room Service, which allows the patient at any time to call the cafeteria and order the meal of their choice and have it delivered within 20 minutes.
“This has been a very popular change to our nutrition program,” Moeller says.
Stillwater Medical also continues its community outreach, most notably its drive-through flu shot program, which provides up to 6,000 shots annually, and its Eat Right for Life nutrition programs in the area’s schools.
The growth isn’t just within the hospital’s walls. Stillwater Medical has undergone several physical expansions, adding an ICU tower and medical office building in 1996. Around the same time, the Stillwater Cancer Center was added, offering radiation and chemotherapy services to the region. The hospital also has recently acquired 53 acres of land behind its current location for future expansion.
“This will allow the hospital to consolidate a lot of its off-campus departments into one location and provide for future expansion for years to come,” Moeller says.
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Jeff Adkins
