Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, founded in 1953, is the cornerstone of what would eventually become Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System (SVMHS). Today, we serve thousands of individuals and families just like you throughout the Salinas Valley, Monterey Peninsula and the surrounding region. Each year, our highly trained team of healthcare professionals takes our renowned quality of patient care to the next level. Our team actively utilizes the latest medical techniques with our state-of-the-art technology to improve your health and well-being. In many cases this provides you and your family the opportunity to receive specialized care right here in your own community, without the need for travel. Our 263-bed acute care hospital employs more than 1,800 people and has a medical staff of more than 300 board-certified physicians across a broad spectrum of specialties, all dedicated to your care.
The 138-bed Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital opened on April 20, 1953 with 100 employees and 45 physicians. The modern facility offered medical and surgical patient floors, pathology and radiology labs, operating rooms, a fracture room, a physical therapy unit, and a pediatric unit with a nursery and a 'pacing room' for fathers-to-be.
On the day of the dedication, March 29, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent a letter of congratulations to Bruce Church. In it he said, the 'People of Salinas Valley have every right to be proud of this admirable example of local self-reliance and initiative,' commenting on the fact that no state or federal funds were used.
Founders and early administrators envisioned a hospital equipped with the latest technology that offered citizens the opportunity to receive high-quality health care without traveling out of the area. Their vision inspired future administrators.
The hospital's first quarter-century was marked by significant advancements in technology. The next 25 years would usher in a level of technology that would have been difficult to imagine, even for the most forward-thinking individuals. Through strong leadership, fiscal responsibility, strategic planning and a driving commitment to the highest quality patient care, the hospital began its transformation into the comprehensive, integrated health care system that it is today.
Through strategic partnerships and affiliations, Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System extends world-class health care beyond our campus and into communities across the Central Coast Region. In fact, through affiliate Central Coast VNA/Hospice, we bring integrated, professional care right into the homes of our patients.
These important relationships enable a seamless network of specialized care for our patients whether in the Salinas Valley, south Monterey County, on the California State University, Monterey Bay Campus or as far north as San Jose. They expand our capabilities and increase access for our patients while providing the convenience of a single, computerized patient record system.
Affiliations and partnerships not only help us serve a larger geographic area, they help us control costs and offer a broader range of specialized services including: urgent care; assisted living and care for people with Alzheimer's and dementia; outpatient surgery; state-of-the-art mammography and diagnostic imaging services; full service eye care including treatment of eye disease and surgery for improved vision; home health services; compassionate end-of-life care and occupational medicine.