** Welcome to Mount Desert Island Hospital **
At Mount Desert Island Hospital, we serve a close-knit island and surrounding communities through our 25-bed critical access facility in Bar Harbor and a network of health centers across Mount Desert Island—all designed to provide comprehensive health care for residents and visitors. While primary care is our focus, we also provide those specialized services best delivered close to home. When care is needed off island, we expedite that process and then, as recovery begins, provide compassionate personal care that welcomes the returning patient home.
** Mission Statement **
To provide compassionate care and strengthen the health of our community by embracing tomorrow's methods and respecting time-honored values.
** Vision Statement **
To be our community’s medical home by pursuing innovative models throughout the continuum of care. Our integrated system will be the standard by which others are measured.
** Values **
Compassion
Community
Improvement
Integrity
Respect
Teamwork
History Of Mount Desert Island Hospital
Mount Desert Island Hospital History—1897 - 2009
On September 3rd 1897, during a meeting at the Marlborough Hotel in Bar Harbor, members of the Village Improvement Society conclude, “some form of hospital is both expedient and even now necessary.” A committee composed of local citizens and “rusticators” undertakes to raise $10,000 for construction of a “Bar Harbor Medical and Surgical Hospital.” Thus begins more than a century of convenient access to quality care for residents and visitors in the MDI region.
1898 - The Bar Harbor Record reports completion of the 46-by-84-foot Colonial-style Hospital. Capacity is limited to 10 beds, five in private rooms: “All that is possible has been done to make the building clean, comfortable, cheerful and convenient.”
1906 - Hospital admits its first maternity patient. Space constraints limit inpatient maternity care to summer residents in the warm season; local women, assisted by a doctor and nurse, deliver at home.
1931 - Trustees rename the Hospital “The Mount Desert Island Hospital”, recognizing island-wide support for the institution.
1937 - A new wing provides additional acute care rooms, an obstetrical area, and a Radiology Department.
1947 - In October of the driest year on record, small fires mushroom into a devastating blaze. Between October 17 and November 14, flames devour 17,188 acres and 237 homes. Yet within Hospital walls, calm prevails. Volunteer fire crews stand guard as patients are moved from the main wooden structure to the brick wing; the following day, bed patients transfer to Eastern Maine General Hospital, Bangor.
1962 - A new fire-resistant brick structure gives the Hospital its first real emergency room, its first pharmacy headed by a registered pharmacist, a new surgical suite with recovery room, and 57 new patient beds.
1968 - The new Medical Arts Building, now known as Cooper-Gilmore Health Center offers doctors office space close to the Hospital.
1969 - Completion of the Extended Care Wing makes MDI Hospital one of the best-equipped hospitals in New England.
1972 - The Intensive and Coronary Care Unit opens, mid-July.
1984 - A trend toward family-centered childbirth leads to the opening of two specially equipped birthing rooms. The Hospital also purchases its own mammography machine for the early detection of breast cancer.
1985 - The Ambulatory Surgery Unit opens, reflecting a shift toward shorter hospital stays.
1992 - Dedication of Dr. Llewellyn W. Cooper Surgical Suite.
1997 - The Hospital acquires a Spiral CT Scanner, which cuts exam times in half and provides more detailed information.
2000 - MDI Hospital receives Critical Access Hospital (CAH) designation. The designation recognizes the unique role played by small, rural hospitals in their communities and provides a higher rate of reimbursement for care of Medicare patients.
2001- MDI Hospital breaks ground on Birch Bay Village Retirement Community.
2002 - The Hospital holds grand opening celebration for the Trenton Health Center.
2003 - The MDI Hospital Breast Center and Orthopedics clinic open.
2005 - MDI Hospital’s new Obstetrics Department and Cadillac Mountain Medical Building open.
2007 - The Hospital cuts the ribbon on the new Colket Inpatient Care Center, which provides spacious, modern facilities for patients and visitors.
2008 - The new Community Health Center in Southwest Harbor opens, offering primary care, behavioral health, physical and occupational therapy, care management, alternative medicine, and an adult day facility for people with memory loss.
2009 - The Don and Beth Straus Center opens next to the new Community Health Center, providing a day program for seniors with memory loss to enjoy a safe, active, therapeutic environment.
