Our History
How we came to be Dunn Memorial Hospital
Since the early days of the 20th century, Dunn Memorial Hospital has symbolized responsive commitment to community need. The hospital had its start in 1904 when Dr. J. T. Freeland and Dr. B. Short leased the Thomas Malott home on 16th Street and established Bedford's first hospital calling it the "Lawrence Hospital". In May 1908, the City of Bedford purchased the Rector homestead in the Brightwood Addition as the first portion of the present hospital's 18 acre site. The home on the property was renovated and equipped to provide nursing care for citizens of the community and was named "The Bedford City Hospital". In 1915 Moses Fell Dunn bequeathed $15,000 to the hospital and together with $5,000 raised by public subscription, constructed a new wing for the hospital. In 1919 the Dunn Memorial Hospital Association was formed and chartered by the State of Indiana as a nonprofit association for the purpose of operating a hospital.
The name became "Dunn Memorial Hospital" in 1924 when the newly constructed facilities were dedicated. In 1939 the Dunn Memorial Hospital Association transferred the hospital properties to Lawrence County on the condition that the properties be used forever for hospital purposes and construction began on a new 50 bed hospital with the assistance of the WPA, gifts from individual donors and a county bond issuance.
In 1958 hospital funds financed construction of a new kitchen and cafeteria and in 1960 a county bond issue and hospital funds combined to purchase additional land and construct ancillary areas. In 1968 Dunn Memorial Hospital established a cardiac care unit and a recovery room for surgical patients. A major expansion effort took place in 1970 enlarging radiology and laboratory facilities, adding three emergency rooms, adding two patient floors, adding a new lobby and gift shop and increasing the hospital's capacity to a level of 137. Dunn migrated to Critical Access status at the end of 2005, decreasing the bed count to 25 inpatient. In 1974 the Hamilton Unit was opened in honor of Dr. J. R. Hamilton of Mitchell and it expanded the Intensive Care-Coronary Care Unit.
A major renovation/expansion program was completed in 1979 expanding and modernizing all areas of the hospital. In 1986 the hospital established a home health care service and dialysis care unit. In 1987, a new CT scanner, new nuclear medicine department, and mammography were added. Renovations, expansions and improvements have taken place since 1987 for stress testing, echo cardiovascular services, cardiac rehabilitation program, medical transportation service, infant day care, children's day care center, adult day care, maternal child health center, birthing room, cardiac catheterization, vascular laboratory, helicopter landing site, physician office building, Walk-In Clinic, and worker's compensation clinic. In 1997 the hospital opened its lithotripsy department in the new wing.
The opening of the Cardiovascular Angio Suite in November 2003 inaugurated the second century of Dunn Memorial Hospital with further growth and the latest technology. Since Dunn has also brought Lawrence County their first four-wheel drive ambulance to serve the community during harsh road conditions. On board is also the capability to transmit 12 lead EKG's back to the emergency department to help our physicians determine wether or not the patient is in need of cardio intervention. With these process in place Dunn gained accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers in 2006, the 10th in the state. Dunn Memorial's service line expanded with the introduction of South Central Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. This was and continues to be a strong need by many in our community with aspirations of introducing sports medicine and training to our local school systems.