About Us

Timeline

1930

  • Mercer County home to a few private hospitals

1940

  • Stites Hospital opens (privately owned)

1943

  • Stites Hospital closes
  • Special County Board meeting called to discuss need for a hospital in the county

1944

  • Mercer County voters approve a hospital maintenance tax

1945

  • County Board calls a special election to approve a hospital constitution bond
  • Aledo City Council volunteers to sell the city North Park for a new hospital site

1947

  • Mercer County approves the building of a $1 million facility using Hill-Burton funds

1948

  • Ground-breaking for the new hospital

1950

  • Open House of new facility
  • First patient admitted to new facility

1956

  • Mercer County Hospital Women's Auxiliary formed

1965

  • Hospital remodeled to increase bed capacity from 57 to 66

1967

  • Physical Therapy added to services
  • Inhalation Therapy added to services

1972

  • ICU Unit added

1980

  • Construction begins on a new 53-bed hospital

1982

  • New hospital opens

1983

  • Specialty services added:
    • Orthopedics
    • Ophthalmology
    • Urology
  • Healthcare climate changes to outpatient care
  • Addition of DRG and CMS

1986

  • Ambulance service added

1987

  • Swing bed program added
  • Home Health Care services added

1988

  • Extended Care services added

1989

  • Podiatry clinic added

1990

  • In-house emergency room physician added for weekend coverage
  • MCH begins management for Mercer County Health Department
  • Mercer Foundation for Health established

1992

  • CT scanner added

1993

  • Medical Clinic opens

1996

  • Join with Trinity Health and OSF St. Francis for Teleradiology network

1997

  • Medical Office building constructed
  • Medical Associates Clinic relocates
  • Mercer County Health Department relocates

1998

  • Outpatient Clinics established:
    • Rehabilitation
    • Orthopedics
    • Gastroenterology
    • Urology

1999

  • Critical Access process begins
  • Data Processing for Y2K updated

2000

  • In-house 24-hour emergency room physician coverage begins
  • MCH receives CAH designation

2001

  • Ophthalmology outpatient clinic established
  • Mercer County Board of Supervisors instituted (independent hospital governing board)

2003

  • Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network formed

2006

  • Nuclear Medicine added
  • Telepsychiatry added
  • Psychiatry outpatient clinic formed
  • Dr. Dennis Palmer receives the Illinois Hospital Association Rural Physician of Excellence Award
  • Dr. Palmer celebrates 30 years of service to the community

2007

  • Fall Prevention Clinic added
  • Memory Clinic added
  • Women's Health Clinic added
  • Diabetes Program receives certification and national recognition (NDPR)
  • $10.5 million major hospital renovation plan approved by hospital governing board and county board
  • Chairman of the Governing Board, Mr. Don Johnson, receives the 2007 Illinois Hospital Association Distinguished Service Award

2008

  • Dr. Prasop Rattananont receives the 2008 Rural Physician of Excellence Award on September 16th in Springfield
  • Dr. Julio Santiago receives the Top Family Doctors Award by the Consumer’s Research Council of America