Sacred Heart Medical Center

In 1936, at the request of local physicians, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Newark (later the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace) agreed to buy Eugene’s financially and structurally ailing Pacific Christian Hospital for $50,000, renaming it Sacred Heart General Hospital. With hospitals in rural Washington and Alaska, the sisters were widely respected in the Northwest as health care administrators. On July 7, 1936, four young nuns arrived from Bellingham, Washington, to take over hospital operations and serve as administrator, nursing superintendent, bookkeeper, and receptionist/admissions clerk.

With the help of community-wide fund-raising efforts, Sacred Heart began an extensive program to enhance the 75-bed hospital. By 1941 a new six-story wing had been completed, adding 100 beds and much-improved surgical and laboratory services. Most recently, in 1998, Sacred Heart Medical Center completed $4 million worth of improvements to its open heart surgical suites and vascular labs.

PeaceHealth Medical Group
PeaceHealth Medical Group was founded in 1922 as the Eugene Hospital and Clinic. It began as a partnership of six practicing Eugene physicians, who felt that by pooling their resources they could provide a more efficient, better equipped hospital. In 1988 the group’s hospital services were consolidated with those at Sacred Heart.

By 1995, when the Eugene Clinic joined with PeaceHealth to become PeaceHealth Medical Group, it was not only the oldest but also the largest multi-specialty medical group in Eugene.

Cottage Grove Community Hospital and South Lane Medical Group
After a series of small doctor-operated hospitals opened and closed early in the 20th century, Cottage Grove had been without a hospital for some 30 years when 32-bed Cottage Grove Hospital opened to patients on April 21, 1950. Local businesses and individuals pitched in to raise the $220,000 needed to build the hospital.

In the 1990s the hospital fell on hard times and wound up in bankruptcy. PeaceHealth took over management of the hospital and its associated medical clinics in 1998. The hospital closed to all but part-time urgent care in August 1998, while the clinics continued operating as South Lane Medical Group. The hospital reopened 15 months later with 24-hour care. A local grassroots effort was undertaken to fund construction of a new hospital. The new 40,000-square-foot, $12.7 million Cottage Grove Community Hospital and Clinics opened on Oct. 7, 2003.