Happy 100th to LDS Hospital

The babies sleeping in the nursery at LDS Hospital Wednesday, each bundled in a fluffy pink or blue commemorative blanket, had no idea they were taking part in a small piece of history.

Day-old Joshua Jaggi, son of Jeremy and Amy Jaggi, Sandy, seemed more interested in catching a few Zzzzs than posing for the cameras flashing around him.

LDS Hospital on Wednesday celebrated its 100th birthday with a party that included cake and lanyards for anyone coming in the front door, as well as a private luncheon packed with reminiscences that brought current staff and retirees together to share stories. It's the kickoff of a year of celebration that will highlight the milestones of the hospital, said administrator Mikelle Moore.

The hospital started small and tall, a five-story building with a footprint of only 175 feet by 40 feet, with 80 tiny patient rooms, 30 bathrooms and one of the first automatic elevators in the valley. It also had a newfangled X-ray machine, invented only 12 years earlier. When what was first called the Dr. William H. Groves LDS Hospital opened Jan. 5, 1905, 45 physicians and 48 other employees, including eight nurses, worked there. That year, 17 babies were born, while 987 patients total were treated.

Now the hospital has 5,000 employees and a medical staff that includes more than 900 physicians. About 5,000 babies are born there each year, and last year nearly 330,000 patients were treated. Not to mention that the campus is now 18 acres, compared to the original 2.5.

Wednesday, staff were bragging about firsts and other accomplishments.

It had the first shock-trauma intensive care unit and comprehensive trauma program in the region.

It founded the Life Flight air ambulance service.

In 1956, Dr. Russell Nelson, now an apostle in The Quorum of the Twelve of the LDS Church, performed the region's first open-heart surgery using the new bypass machine at what was then Salt Lake General Hospital. Shortly after, he moved his work up to LDS Hospital for the next 25 years' research and pioneering efforts. Today, more heart surgeries are performed at LDS Hospital than any other in the region.

A team lead by Dr. Homer Warner developed one of the world's first clinical medical infomatics systems. The hospital was the first in the world to integrate computers completely into operations, with terminals at each patient's bed and at each clinical station.