Janice Early, LMH Health
LMH Health is pictured in a file photo from October 2018.
One hundred years ago, Lawrence Memorial Hospital officially opened its doors. While that’s a milestone worthy of celebration for any organization, it’s the story of the founding of the hospital that deserves special recognition.
In a 1940s pamphlet called “An Idea That Grew,” Robert C. Rankin, the first chairman of Lawrence Memorial Hospital’s Board of Trustees, wrote that the idea for the hospital came after Dr. Ralph E. Barnes was called to attend to an elderly man who had fallen in a seizure on a sidewalk near the Eldridge Hotel. He tried to take the man to a hospital, but at the time, Lawrence was served only by small private hospitals that were owned by the physicians who operated them in connection with their practices.