Golden anniversary

TGMC leads the way in technology

TGMC in the forefront of patient care

A special word of thanks

Financial responsibility: Hallmark of TGMC’s history

Honoring Chiefs of Staff

A salute to our medical staff

TGMC earns distinction as an Employer of Choice

Like the parish for which it is named, Terrebonne General Medical Center (TGMC) has changed in many ways during the past 50 years. In that time TGMC has grown from a small-town hospital to a regional medical center with a national reputation for innovation and excellence.

However, anyone who attended the grand opening of Terrebonne General Hospital on June 27, 1954, would still recognize one thing about the hospital: our commitment to improving the health of our community and preserving the culture of South Louisiana.

Growing with the community
TGMC started as the dream of two cousins, Drs. Willard Ellender and Stephen Ellender, who opened a private hospital on East Park Avenue in 1935. As the parish grew, so did the need for a larger community hospital, and in 1952, workers began construction on Terrebonne General Hospital. The cost was $1.5 million.

When Terrebonne General Hospital opened, on July 1, 1954, there were 76 beds, 58 employees and 16 staff physicians led by Dr. Willard Ellender as chief of staff and Dr. Stephen Ellender as assistant chief of staff. Patients paid as much as $12.50 per night for a bed.

Over the course of the next five decades, the facility, staff, patient population and community support grew steadily. A significant expansion in 1961 added 84 beds, operating rooms, labor rooms, a pathology suite and a residence for nurses, while an even more extensive renovation and expansion project costing $47.3 million followed in 1976.

Transforming health care
Important administrative changes were also under way. Until 1979, the parish leased the hospital as a nonprofit institution to the Hospital Corporation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. In that year, the Sisters chose not to renew their lease. Instead, the Louisiana Legislature and Governor Edwin Edwards gave the parish authority to create a Hospital Service District, and a Board of Commissioners was appointed to oversee operations.

The building we know today as Terrebonne General Medical Center was built starting in 1981. By the time this 261-bed facility opened three years later, TGMC had 694 employees and 64 physicians on staff.

Leading and serving
With growth came a renewed dedication to excellence. In fact, TGMC was the first hospital to receive the United States Senate Award for Innovation, for providing services that had not previously been available in the area.

The award helped establish TGMC’s reputation as one of the most innovative care providers in the nation. This included adopting new technologies that allowed more procedures to be conducted on an outpatient basis. Progress in this field of medicine culminated with the opening of the new Outpatient Pavilion at TGMC, the area’s most complete and convenient acute care day surgery center in 2004.

The center is an ideal complement to the new Emergency Department, which opened two years earlier with 30 specially equipped private ER rooms for triage, pediatrics, radiology
and orthopedics, cardiovascular complications, obstetrics and gynecology, trauma, observation and general emergency care.

Other recent improvement projects have strengthened TGMC such as a Digital Cath Lab, EEG Department, Information Technology, Laboratory and Pathology, Pharmacy, Heart Failure Infusion Center and Diagnostic Imaging Services. Committed to keeping the community healthy, TGMC has a tradition of bringing preventive care services into the neighborhoods it serves. For more than a decade, the TGMC OutReach Center has been providing a wide variety of free and low-cost prevention services at Southland Mall, including blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, support and exercise groups, nutrition programs, prenatal care education and much more.

As one of the area’s largest employers, TGMC is proud to have won a prestigious Employer of Choice® designation from Employer of Choice, Inc., of Greensboro, North Carolina. The honor recognizes the hospital’s dedication to achieving higher levels of employee satisfaction, continuity, stability and performance. Only 1 percent of hospitals in the nation operate at the level required for this prestigious award.

Focusing on the future
In 2005, the community will welcome the opening of TGMC’s new Women’s Center. Following completion of that project, the main facility will be renovated to ensure that TGMC continues to meet the needs of its patients.

In 50 more years, TGMC may have a completely different appearance. Old buildings will be removed and new ones constructed. Long-time employees will retire and new workers will be hired. Services will be added, advanced procedures will be developed and new technologies will be invented.

Through it all, the TGMC family will be here to serve the needs of your family for generations to come — true to our founders’ vision and our unchanging mission.