The Early History of Morton Plant Hospital
During a family vacation at the Belleview Biltmore Hotel in 1912 Morton Freeman Plant's son Henry Plant II suffered a badly crushed hip and leg as the result of a car crash. Instead of seeking treatment for his son in Tampa, Morton Plant quickly rushed one of his family railroad cars into action and ordered it to Clearwater from Chicago. The car was packed with doctors, nurses and the best available medical equipment of the day. The makeshift hospital that Morton Plant had ordered was then settled next to the hotel and Henry spent a long recuperation period there.
Unfortunately, the residents of Clearwater were predominantly farmers and tradesman who had to receive medical attention when they were hurt or ill in their own homes, unless they were able to make the trek eastward to Tampa. During the next two years a group of local women carried out a hospital fund-raising drive that netted only $150. In March of 1914, they approached Morton Plant with their small collection. Still reeling from the experience of his son's accident Mr. Plant made the women an offer. He committed to a permanent endowment of $100,000 in railroad stock, on one condition, the community must raise another $20,000 to pay for the building costs of the hospital. Within weeks the excited residents of Clearwater had managed to raise the necessary funds and construction on the facility soon began.
On January 1, 1916, approximately four years after Henry's accident the doors of the two-story, 20-bed facility opened for the first time and within four days a little boy was the first child born at the hospital which is now widely known for its excellence in maternity care.
In 1931 the generosity of trustee Donald Roebling made it possible for the hospital to increase its bed capacity to 54, rebuild an operating suite and enlarge the labor and delivery room. In the early 1940's Mr. Roebling again demonstrated his generosity by donating $40,000 which the hospital used to build a new wing which was named for Roebling and dedicated in 1942.
The 1950's and 1960's were an exciting time in the hisotry of Morton Plant Hospital. In 1953 the Roebling building, named posthumously for Donald Roebling was completed pushing the bed capacity of the hospital to 100, the first Charity Ball was held in 1957 marking the beginning of a tradition that would last for more than forty years. Also during this period Mrs. Wilma Lucille-witt, widow of Hav-A-Tampa cigarmaker Eli Witt redrafted her will at the encouragement of Dr. Grace Parr, the first female physician on the Morton Plant Medical Staff. Mrs. Witt bequeathed an astonishing amount of $2.4 million at her death in 1960 to the hospital she had never even seen. In 1967 the Witt building was completed and it almost doubled the capacity of the hospital to hold 501 patients. The first Intensive Care Unit was also opened that same year.
The opening of the Barnard building in 1975 rocketed Morton Plant Hospital into the big leagues of cardiac care by adding heart catheterization and open heart surgery to the reportoire of cardiac programs the hospital offered. The Barnard project also allowed for expansion of surgery, x-ray and emergency room facilities.
From 1977 to 1993 Duane Houtz acted as Morton Plant Hospital's CEO. During his tenure the hospital's assets tripled from $31 million to $96 million ushering in a financial stability that the hospital had never known before, and it also saw the number of high quality physicians more than double from 180 to 370.
Larry Morgan takes his role as a philanthropist very seriously, so seriously in fact that in 2006 the new Morgan Heart Hospital will open due to the unparalleled generosity of Mr. Morgan, his wife Patty and their family. The Morgan's donated $5 million to the Morton Plant Mease Foundation, the largest gift in our history, for the construction of the heart hospital. The Heart Hospital will solidfy Morton Plant Hospital as the premier Cardiac treatment facility in the area.
|
