History of UPMC in central Pa.

From our small beginnings in 1873, to our present day eight hospital system with thousands of employees, our mission has been the same - to improve the health and well being of the people of Central Pennsylvania.

Key Historical Milestones

• 2019 -  UPMC Pinnacle opens new UPMC Memorial Hospital at 1701 Innovation Drive in York, Pa
• 2018 - UPMC Pinnacle launches telemedicine program with UPMC Neurology in Pittsburgh
• 2018 - UPMC Liver Transplant Evaluation Clinic opens at UPMC Pinnacle
• 2018 - New maternity unit opens at UPMC  Harrisburg
• 2017 - PinnacleHealth becomes part of UPMC health system becoming Pinnacle
• 2017 - PinnacleHealth purchases Carlisle Regional Medical Center, Lancaster Regional Medical Center,  Heart of Lancaster, Memorial Hospital and Hanover Hospital
• 2014 - West Shore Hospital opens.
• 2013 - A new partnership with Highmark is formed to expand patient-centered medical home efforts in central Pennsylvania.
• 2012 - PinnacleHealth opens new Orthopaedic and Spine units in Harrisburg.
• 2012 - PinnacleHealth surgeon Luciano DiMarco, DO, is the first in Pennsylvania to perform da Vinci® single site gall bladder removal.
• 2012 - PinnacleHealth surgeons are firs in the world to perform anterior lumbar spine surgery with the da Vinci Si Surgical System.
• 2011 - PinnacleHealth Cancer Center opens.
• 2011 - New Medical Sciences Pavilion built on the Community Campus; includes new PinnacleHealth Cancer Center and Imaging Center.
• 2011 - Launch of PinnacleHealth's CardioVascular Institute which includes 31 specialists from the region’s most respected and requested cardiology group.
• 2011 - PinnacleHealth's Harrisburg Hospital Emergency Department fully operational after construction update.
• 2011 - PinnacleHealth receives Magnet hospital recertification.
• 2011 - Health Information Exchange (HIE) participation includes 700+ providers.
• 2011 - PinnacleHealth obtains new da Vinci Si and performs regional “firsts” including first thyroidectomy and first cardiac bypass.
• 2011 - Pulmonary Nodule Clinic launches to provide quick evaluation and treatment of lung nodule cases.
• 2011 - Drs. Mumtaz and Loran perform region’s first robotic endoscopic (no incision) CABG at PinnacleHealth.
• 2011 - PinnacleHealth opens a new antepartum unit.
• 2011 - Women’s Cancer Center performs 1,000th robotic surgery.
• 2010 - PinnacleHealth opens The Spine Institute, which uses a multidisciplinary team approach to provide patients with comprehensive care for neck and back pain.
• 2010 - PinnacleHealth Imaging implements dose reduction software in CT scanners in order to perform procedures with significantly less radiation.
• 2010 - PinnacleHealth’s Harrisburg Hospital is the first hospital in central Pennsylvania to be recognized as an Accredited Chest Pain Center by the Society of Chest Pain Centers.
• 2009 - PinnacleHealth performs first kidney transplant as part of the National Kidney Registry’s (NKR) paired donor exchange program. At the time, the transplant was part of the biggest kidney exchange transplant surgery chain in the United States, which involved eight pairings of donors and recipients coast-to-coast.
• 2009 - PinnacleHealth is named one of the Best Places to Work in PA for the seventh consecutive year.
• 2009 - PinnacleHealth achieves recognition as a Thomson Reuters100 Top Hospitals®: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success Winner for the second consecutive year.
• 2009 - PinnacleHealth installs the first Aquilion ONE® (volume computed tomography (CT) scanner) in the state—one of only nine in the country.
• 2009 - PinnacleHealth is recognized as a Primary Stroke Center by The Joint Commission, the foremost accrediting body in health care in the United States.
• 2008 - PinnacleHealth begins offering new antibody reduction protocol to kidney transplant patients, helping to reduce preformed human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibody levels and enhancing the patient’s compatibility with available kidneys.
• 2008 - PinnacleHealth opens one-of-a-kind, advanced Minimally Invasive Endovascular Suite.
• 2008 - PinnacleHealth performs first same-sitting hybrid revascularization (heart bypass surgery and stent placement) with da Vinci robot.
• 2008 - PinnacleHealth achieves recognition as a Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals®: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success Winner.
• 2007 - New operating room is dedicated, equipped with state-of-the-art minimally invasive surgical technology. The suite offers surgeons and staff the latest innovations, from advanced optics to integrated imaging.
• 2007 - PinnacleHealth's Bariatric Surgery Program attains Center of Excellence designation by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
• 2006 - PinnacleHealth nurses achieve Magnet recognition.
• 2006 - PinnacleHealth becomes the first in the northeast to offer robotically assisted minimally invasive surgery (heart bypass and prostatectomy) with the da Vinci Surgical System.
• 2005 - PinnacleHealth installs central Pennsylvania's first fully automated laboratory robotics system.
• 2005 - PinnacleHealth implements the first SPY® Operating System.
• 2005 - PinnacleHealth starts the region's only inpatient geriatric psychiatric program.
• 2005 - PinnacleHealth Heart & Vascular Institute drives the first cardiac patient in the new VIP Van Service, a courtesy shuttle service for cardiovascular patients at the Harrisburg Campus.
• 2005 - PinnacleHealth creates the Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), designed to fill the gaps between traditional outpatient and acute behavioral health services. This service is located on the Harrisburg Campus in Press Hall now under the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute.
• 2005 - The Cardiac Transfer Center is introduced, which assists physicians and hospitals in transferring patients to PinnacleHealth for cardiovascular procedures.
• 2004 - PinnacleHealth brings the National Red Dress Project to Harrisburg, educating women about their number-one health threat, heart disease.
• 2004 - The first carotid artery stent is placed.
• 2003 - PinnacleHealth’s Toxicology Center is founded; it is one of the first of its kind in the nation.
• 2002 - The STAT MedEvac Air Transport Service is established.
• 2001 - The newly expanded Community Campus Emergency Department is dedicated by the Albert and Marie Herbert family and PinnacleHealth officials.
• 2001 - The Fredricksen Outpatient Center (now called UPMC Outpatient Services) on the West Shore Campus is dedicated.
• 2000 - A new cardiovascular center opens on the fourth floor of the Harrisburg Campus, featuring improved waiting areas and state-of-the-art technology
• 2000 - PinnacleHealth performs the first stent trial in Pennsylvania.
• 2000 - PinnacleHealth performs the first kidney transplant in Pennsylvania.
• 2000 - Five new operating rooms open on the Harrisburg Campus
• 1999 - PinnacleHealth Heart & Vascular Institute is named one of the top 100 U.S. providers of heart care, according to a study by HCIA, a Baltimore-based health care information and analysis company.
• 1999 - PinnacleHealth performs the first minimally invasive abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair.
• 1999 - The PinnacleHealth Heart & Vascular Institute opens.
• 1999 - Cryosurgery is offered for the first time in central Pennsylvania on the Community Campus.
• 1998 - Carlisle Hospital (Now UPMC Carlisle) expands from is original location on Parker Street to a 25-acre campus off of Walnut Bottom Road
• 1998 - PinnacleHealth opens dedicated stroke units in both Harrisburg and Polyclinic Hospitals as part of the formation of a comprehensive stroke care program.
• 1998 - Community Hospital joins PinnacleHealth.
• 1997 - PinnacleHealth performs the first off-pump coronary bypass.
• 1996 - Polyclinic Hospital and Capital Health System merge to become PinnacleHealth.
• 1987 - Harrisburg and Seidle Hospitals merged to form Capital Health System.
• 1987 - Capital Psychiatric Associates is introduced as part of Capital Health System, which then became PinnacleHealth Psychological Associates (PHPA).
• 1983 - The Harrisburg Institute of Psychiatry is established.
• 1980 - The Psychiatric Department is initiated at Polyclinic Medical Center.
• 1980 - The first percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is performed at Harrisburg Campus.
• 1978 - $33.7 million project is approved by the board for Harrisburg Hospital.
• 1979 - The first Children's Health Fair is held for 600 area third graders.
• 1969 - The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is opened at Harrisburg Campus.
• 1969 - The Adult Partial Hospital program (first in the area) is started.
• 1968 - Harrisburg Hospital sponsors the first Community Mental Health Center in Dauphin County. Services include inpatient psychiatry, mental health outpatient services, emergency services for psychiatric patients and consultation services.
• 1967 - A 17-bed intensive care unit opens with six cardiac monitoring facilities.
• 1960 - The inpatient psychiatric unit opens.
• 1957 - The first heart catheterization is performed at Polyclinic Campus.
• 1956 - The first open-heart surgery is performed at Harrisburg Campus.
• 1956 - The first cardioversion is performed at Polyclinic Campus.
• 1951 - Osteopathic Hospital (now UPMC Pinnacle Community General Osteopathic hospital) opens.
• 1945 - Memorial Hospital (now UPMC Pinnacle Memorial - became part of UPMC Pinnacle in 2017) opens in York County.
• 1936 - Seidle Memorial Hospital is founded.
• 1926 - Hanover Hospital (Now UPMC Pinnacle Hanover and became part of UPMC Pinnacle in 2017) founded when philanthropists Harper D. Sheppard and Clinton N. Myers united local residents around the concept of a community hospital.
• 1924 - The Dunott-Coover Memorial Operating Room Trust is established with $4,000 worth of stocks; income is used to buy surgical instruments.
• 1921 - Heart of Lancaster hospital (formerly Community Hospital and now UPMC Pinnacle Lititz) is founded when the former Lancaster Osteopathic Hospital was born out of necessity, choice and convenience. Osteopathic physicians and their patients wanted the option for an expanded kind of medical care not available in Lancaster. 
• 1921 - Women were the lead in establishing formal osteopathic care in Lancaster County.  Under the direction of the wives of seven osteopathic physicians, efforts to provide organized osteopathic care begun. A free clinic opened downtown in the Woolworth building managed by the Osteopathic Club which had 500 members
• 1916 - Carlisle Hospital (Now UPMC Pinnacle Carlisle and became part of UPMC Pinnacle in 2017) opened its doors to patients on Parker Street with 60 Beds.
• 1912 - First gasoline-powered ambulance is put into service.
• 1909 - Polyclinic Hospital opens.
• 1900 - Haldeman-Haly Operating Room opens in response to high demand for services.
• 1877 - St. Joseph Hospital (formerly Lancaster Regional Hospital became part of UPMC Pinnacle in 2017) is founded when the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia established the first hospital in Lancaster County, Pa.
• 1873 - Harrisburg Hospital is officially founded.

Contact Us

Questions about historical archives? E-mail our library for historical photos and documents only.

Learn more about requesting medical records.