A Brief History

In May 1923, the first hospital was organized for the people of Malvern and the surrounding area by three local doctors—Dr. E. H. McCray, Dr. W. G. Hodges, and Dr. E. J. Bramlitt.  The hospital, located at Locust and Second Street, consisted of eight beds and one operating room, with one nurse in charge at all times.  The institution was financed by the three physicians and The First Baptist church gave a linen shower for the opening of the hospital.

In 1929 a county wide hospital, County General Hospital, was opened on South Main Street.  This hospital offered 23 beds and 16 bassinets.  The Quorum Court appropriated $5,000 to equip the hospital.  Mrs. Margaret Perry was the first RN and Superintendent of the hospital. 

In May 1950, a new facility, Hot Spring County Memorial Hospital, was built on East Highland Street and dedicated to all the men from the county who had given their lives in World War II.  The new hospital had 42 beds and cost $305,000, which included county funds and $95,600 in Federal Hill-Burton funds.  Mrs. Stella Mae Engles was the RN and Superintendent.

A new wing was built and opened in 1959 adding 41 beds, two operating rooms and two delivery rooms.  This brought the total number of hospital beds to 83.  At that time the hospital employed eight RNs, 30 LPNs, and 37 aides.  Horace H. Fisher was the first Board Chairman of the Hot Spring County Memorial Hospital.

In 1966, the hospital consisted of 14 medical doctors and employed 112 full-time staff members.  James H. Moses was the administrator and Dr. C.F. Peters was the president of the medical staff.  The average cost per patient day was $28.65, which was under the state average.

In June of 1979, the hospital moved from Highland Street to a new five million dollar facility on Schneider Drive.  This building was the newest hospital in the state with all the latest equipment and supplies.  The hospital housed 77 beds and was planned with patient care uppermost in the design.  Southern Management Corporation, a hospital management firm, was in charge of administrating the hospital.  Philip Robinson was the Administrator and George McClure, Sr., was Board Chairman.

The Professional building was added in 1982 to provide clinic space for several of the hospital physicians.  In 1989, Radiology was expanded in order to house the CT scanner.  A helipad was built at the rear of the hospital in the summer of 1992 to insure rapid transportation of patients to and from the hospital.  Also in 1992, the Mental Health unit was added and in 1993, the Home Health building behind the hospital.  A new wing was constructed in 1999 and included an inpatient rehabilitation unit, additional office space, new waiting room, and a board room. 

In recent years, a wound center, a sleep lab, an outpatient center, and a hospice unit have been opened, while the inpatient rehabilitation unit closed.  Most of the patient rooms have been converted to private rooms with the hospital housing six ICU beds, eight step-down beds, four semi-private beds on med/surg, 24 private rooms on med/surg, and 18 mental health beds.  Equipment upgrades have been acquired when necessary, including a new MRI machine in 2004 and a state-of-the-art 64 slice CT scanner in 2007.

HSC Medical Center is a private, not-for-profit hospital classified as a 501(c)3 corporation and has not received any tax support until recently when a half-cent county sales tax was passed.  Those funds will become available in March 2009.    The hospital is governed by a Board of Directors whose chairman is Page Kutait.  Sheila Williams, CEO, directs the day to day operation of the hospital.