The
beginnings of Munson Medical Center can be traced to James Decker
Munson, MD, who donated a boarding house
for use as a community hospital in 1915. Later to become known
as Munson Medical Center, the hospital was northern Michigan’s
first general hospital, and was organized as the hospital division
of the State Psychiatric Hospital. The facility has grown from
21 to 391 licensed beds, and is the largest hospital in the region.
Through the years, Munson Medical Center has grown and improved
services, including the first open-heart surgery on July 3, 1990.
It is thought that this procedure was the beginning of the many
regional services now provided by the Munson Healthcare system.
Though Munson Medical Center became affiliated
with Kalkaska Memorial Health Center through a management agreement
in 1976, it wasn’t until 1985 when Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital
in Frankfort affiliated with Munson Medical Center that Munson
Healthcare was officially organized as a system of health care
providers.
The Munson Healthcare System now includes Munson Medical Center, Cheboygan Memorial Hospital, Paul Oliver
Memorial Hospital, Kalkaska Memorial Health Center, Mercy Hospital Grayling,
Mercy Hospital Cadillac, Otsego Memorial Hospital, and West Shore Medical
Center. Munson Healthcare employs more than 5,000 people, and as a regional,
non-profit system, it offers a continuum of health care services
for communities across 24 counties.
About Dr. Munson
Born
June 8, 1848 on a farm in Oakland County, Dr. James Decker Munson was a well-known humanitarian, medical
scientist, and horticulturalist. Dr. Munson graduated from the
University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1873 at the age of
25. His exceptional talent in medical school quickly established
his reputation in the Detroit area, where he practiced as a neurologist/
psychiatrist. Within just five years of graduating, he was appointed
as the Chief Medical Assistant of the newly-built, Eastern Michigan
Asylum in Pontiac.
In 1881, the state chose Traverse City as
the site for the Northern Michigan Asylum, where Dr. Munson was
selected as the new Medical Superintendent in 1885. On arrival
he found a vast area of untilled, stump-covered land. With his
farming upbringing and experience, he cleared the land and planned
its landscaping and beautification.
Dr. Munson was one of the first to believe
that mental asylums should be for the treatment of patients, not
just for warehousing the mentally ill. It was this belief that
led the way for the natural environment of care he created for
his patients, and originated the idea of therapeutic work for
the mentally ill, who worked on the hospital farm.
Dr. Munson’s practices of compassion
and dignity can be found in the values of every Munson Healthcare
employee today, along with his pioneering spirit as we continue
to provide the highest quality care with the latest in healthcare
technology.
If you are a Munson Healthcare patient and have a compliment,
concern, or complaint, please contact one of our Patient
Liaisons.
The
beginnings of Munson Medical Center can be traced to James Decker
Munson, MD, who
Born
June 8, 1848 on a farm in Oakland County, Dr. James Decker Munson