Orlando General Hospital

Milestones

A Tradition of Excellence and Healing

Orlando Health was founded in 1918 on the heels of World War I and in the midst of a deadly flu pandemic. Orange General Hospital, as it was known then, was supported financially by community members and a dedicated group of doctors. This former 50-bed hospital, lit by candles and oil lamps, has evolved into a healthcare system that’s nationally recognized for meeting the highest standards of quality and compassionate care. 

With more than 3,200 beds in hospital and emergency room settings, Orlando Health serves the southeastern United States at locations from the Atlantic to Gulf coasts. More than 4,000 physicians in 100+ medical specialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs 25,000+ team members.

2022
  • Orlando Health partners with Doctors’ Center Hospital to create Doctors’ Center Hospital Orlando Health – Dorado in Dorado, Puerto Rico, a 105-bed acute care hospital that opened in March 2022. The partnership enhances care for residents of Puerto Rico’s northern region, strengthens relationships between physicians in Orlando and Puerto Rico, expands medical tourism and provides connected healthcare for thousands who travel between Florida and Puerto Rico.
  • Orlando Health partners with Doctors’ Center Hospital to create Doctors’ Center Hospital Orlando Health – Dorado in Dorado, Puerto Rico, a 105-bed acute care hospital that opened in March 2022. The partnership enhances care for residents of Puerto Rico’s northern region, strengthens relationships between physicians in Orlando and Puerto Rico, expands medical tourism and provides connected healthcare for thousands who travel between Florida and Puerto Rico.
  • The first phase of the Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute facility opens. Led by an internationally recognized team of gastroenterologists, the state-of-the-art facility is a focus for general and advanced GI care, research and education. 
  • The Colon and Rectal Clinic of Orlando (CRC), which has partnered with Orlando Health for more than 40 years as the organization’s primary colon and rectal surgery group, becomes part of Orlando Health to create the Orlando Health Colon and Rectal Institute.
  • Medical Center Radiology Group (MCRG), whose board-certified radiologists interpret medical imaging for the healthcare system, joins Orlando Health. Since 1949, MCRG and its physicians have collaborated with Orlando Health.
  • The Orlando Health Emergency Room – Reunion Village opens, bringing a full-service, stand-alone ER to Florida’s growing northwest Osceola County and surrounding areas as a service of Orlando Health Horizon West Hospital.
  • Orlando Health Cancer Institute introduces two new tools in the fight against prostate cancer: prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a new radioactive tracer drug designed to make locating lesions easier in advanced prostate cancer cases and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) as a new option for the treatment of prostate cancer.
  • Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute reaches milestone of performing 1,000 transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures, which are minimally invasive procedures that replace damaged aortic valves with a collapsible replacement valve.
  • Orlando Health Cancer Institute’s Marjorie and Leonard Williams Center for Proton Therapy treats its 1,000th patient.
  • Orlando Health is designated as the official Central Florida Medical Home for Special Olympics Florida and serves as the official Medical Team for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games taking place in the Orlando area.
  • Orlando Health and Visit Orlando, the Official Tourism Association® for Orlando, form a unique partnership that designates Orlando Health as the Official Health and Wellness Partner of Visit Orlando and offers health-related benefits for the millions of visitors to Central Florida. The partnership also includes plans for the Orlando Health Virtual Care Center located at the Orange County Convention Center.
2021

  • Orlando Health’s cancer program becomes Orlando Health Cancer Institute.
  • The new, six-story, 228,000-square-foot Orlando Health Horizon West Hospital opens in one of the region’s fastest-growing communities.
  • The Orlando Health Emergency Room – Randal Park opens, bringing a full-service, stand-alone ER to the Lake Nona area.
  • FHV Health — a multispecialty group that includes primary care and cardiology practices, and two urgent care facilities throughout Lake and Sumter counties — joins Orlando Health, becoming Orlando Health Medical Group FHV Health.
  • Orlando Health launches the new Epic comprehensive health records system to streamline health data and care delivery for patients throughout the Orlando Health network. The new system connects with other Epic hospitals across the nation and includes the Orlando Health MyChart® patient portal, where patients can manage their healthcare.
  • Orlando Health Cancer Institute launches its Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy program, offering treatment for blood cancers in adults, including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
  • Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute is the first health system in Central Florida to use mixed-reality technology for surgery procedures, one of only 13 sites in the country with the technology.
  • Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute is the first in Central Florida to offer shockwave technology to break up severely calcified plaque in heart arteries.
  • The Orlando Health Foundation receives a $5 million gift to the Level One Trauma Center at Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) for expansion. The gift from the donor, who chose to remain anonymous, will increase surge capacity — a need recognized following the Pulse nightclub tragedy in 2016.

2020

  • With the acquisition of Jewett Orthopaedic Clinic, the newly created Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute becomes one of the largest providers of orthopedic services in Florida.
  • Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital fully joins the organization when Orlando Health finalizes the purchase of the remaining ownership interest in the 84-bed St. Cloud Regional Medical Center.
  • Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, a 480-bed level II trauma and tertiary care hospital and healthcare system, becomes part of Orlando Health. The hospital has served the St. Petersburg community since 1910.
  • Orlando Health Women’s Pavilion – Winter Park opens as a new healthcare experience designed exclusively for women to provide care through every stage of life.
  • Orlando Health Cancer Institute is the first in the area to feature Ion™ by Intuitive, a new minimally invasive lung biopsy system that helps physicians reach further into the lungs to detect lesions and obtain tissue samples, helping to diagnose lung cancer earlier and thus improve survival rates.
  • The tiniest baby to ever survive at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies goes home after six months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). According to the University of Iowa's Tiniest Baby Registry, baby Diana — born at 22 weeks weighing only 12 ounces and going home weighing over 7 pounds — will join a group of only 10 babies in the world recorded to have survived at her size and gestational age.

2019

  • The Orlando Health Emergency Room and Medical Pavilion – Lake Mary opens with a full-service, stand-alone ER and medical pavilion featuring physician practices, laboratory and other ancillary services.
  • The build-out of approximately 30,000 square feet in the Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center North Tower facility is completed and includes a 16-bed metabolic bariatric surgery medical/surgical unit and a 16-bed neuro/spine unit.
  • Orlando Health South Lake Hospital becomes fully integrated with the organization, having been an affiliated hospital since 1995.
  • Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies launches a successful in utero surgery program to repair spina bifida, meeting an important need across the Southeast region as the first hospital in Florida to offer this life-changing procedure.
  • Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center is the first hospital in Central Florida to offer Zephyr® Endobronchial Valve System treatment for patients with severe emphysema. The treatment was granted Breakthrough Device designation by the FDA based on positive clinical data from several trials, including the pivotal LIBERATE Study in which Orlando Health ORMC was a study site.
  • Orlando Health Registered Nurse Residency program receives accreditation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Practice Transition Accreditation Program® (PTAP) for demonstrating excellence in transitioning newly licensed registered nurses into practice settings. Orlando Health is the only Central Florida hospital system to achieve this multi-site, multi-workplace designation.

2018
  • Orlando Health celebrates 100 years of caring for Central Florida, which began with the November 5, 1918, opening of Orange General Hospital — a 50-bed community hospital built in an orange grove on Kuhl Avenue in Orlando.
  • The Orlando Health Emergency Room and Medical Pavilion – Horizon West opens in west Orange County, featuring a full-service, stand-alone ER as well as physician offices, outpatient diagnostics, laboratory services, outpatient rehabilitation and Orlando Health Center for Health Improvement.
  • The Orlando Health Emergency Room and Medical Pavilion – Osceola opens with a full-service, stand-alone ER and medical pavilion featuring physician practices, laboratory and other ancillary services.
  • Orlando Health Medical Pavilion – Oviedo opens, offering residents in east Orange County a convenient, one-stop location for a variety of healthcare services and physician specialties.
  • Two new full-service, stand-alone ERs open in Lake County with the Orlando Health South Lake Hospital Emergency Room and Medical Pavilion – Blue Cedar, also offering specialty physician care and physical and occupational rehabilitation, and the Orlando Health South Lake Hospital Joe H. and Loretta Scott Emergency Room – Four Corners.
  • The 30,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Orlando Health Cancer Institute at Health Central opens as a comprehensive regional oncology facility delivering expanded treatment and supportive patient care. It becomes the only facility in Central Florida and the ninth in the nation to offer the innovative MRIdian® radiation therapy.
2017

  • Orlando Health Medical Pavilion – Spring Lake and Orlando Health Medical Pavilion – Summerport open, offering residents of Dr. Phillips, Windermere, Winter Garden and neighboring communities in west Orange County convenient, one-stop locations for a variety of healthcare services and specialties.
  • Orlando Health enters into a partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care (now FastMed Urgent Care) for urgent care facilities throughout greater Orlando, with eight existing area CareSpot locations and all future centers to be co-branded CareSpot Urgent Care – Orlando Health.
  • The Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute electrophysiologists become only the second team in the country to use a cryoenergy balloon catheter to successfully treat arrhythmias in a hybrid procedure. Our physicians are the first and only ones in Central Florida using this new catheter and the only lab in Florida performing hybrid convergent procedures with cryoenergy for long-standing, persistent atrial fibrillation.
  • Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute offers new minimally invasive WATCHMAN technology that places a permanent device inside the heart to reduce stroke risk in patients who have atrial fibrillation.

2016

  • Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital opens the first phase of a newly constructed emergency department and patient bed tower. The total ER renovation more than triples its size from 15,000 square feet to 54,000 square feet with a total of 62 patient examination rooms. The new patient tower adds 40 patient beds.
  • The $25 million Marjorie and Leonard Williams Center for Proton Therapy, the latest in cancer technology, opens as the only proton therapy center in Central Florida and the third in the state. The Mevion S250 superconducting synchrocyclotron proton accelerator is housed in a three-story, 15,000-square-foot facility on the downtown Orlando Health campus.
  • A new 12,000-square-foot, $10 million cancer treatment facility opens in Lake Mary, offering chemotherapy, radiation therapy and oncology services.
  • The Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute introduces the MitraClip® procedure, a minimally invasive treatment option for patients with mitral valve regurgitation.
  • Orlando Health is thrust into the international spotlight following the mass shooting at the nearby PULSE nightclub. In less than 12 hours, surgeons operated on 26 victims, and all of the 35 who were treated survived.

2015

  • David W. Strong becomes president and CEO of Orlando Health.
  • Orlando Health Physician Associates acquires Pediatric Associates of Orlando, one of the first pediatric practices established in Central Florida.
  • Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center opens the North Bed Tower. The 245-bed, 10-story, 345,000-square foot north tower is designed to enhance the quality of care, reinforce safety for patients and caregivers, and heighten patient satisfaction with a range of concierge-style amenities.
  • The newly renovated Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center catheter lab opens with five new catheter lab rooms, four new EP labs and 20 pre/post rooms.
  • Orlando Health Physicians Bariatric and Laparoscopy Center receives accreditation from the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), identifying the program as a Center for Excellence in Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery for both adults and adolescents.

2014

  • A 30-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) expansion opens at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies, making the hospital’s NICU one of the largest in the world.
  • Orlando Health launches the Integrative Medicine program, a nationwide affiliation that delivers social and emotional research, education and support programming to thousands of patients and families affected by cancer.
  • Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute is the first in the state of Florida to offer CorPath®, a robotic-assisted system for coronary angioplasty. The new technology is designed to enhance angioplasty with added precision and accuracy, and less radiation exposure.
  • Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute is the first in Central Florida to offer AngioVac, a clot removal system. The vacuum-like tool removes potentially deadly, large clots that lodge in patients’ hearts.

2013

  • Orlando Health surgeons are the first in Florida to perform a vascularized lymph node transfer. This microsurgical procedure treats lymphedema by transferring lymph nodes from one area of the body to another that is affected.
  • Orlando Health acquires Physician Associates, one of the largest multispecialty practices in Central Florida.
  • The Orlando Health Network, part of the Orlando Health system, launches as the first hospital-led Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in Florida.
  • Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies jointly receive highly coveted Magnet designation for nursing’s contribution to quality patient care, safety, research and service excellence.
  • Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center receives designation as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. This expanded scope of stroke care provides higher-level treatments and advanced surgical options for more immediate access to advanced stroke interventions.

2012

  • Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute begins offering the recently FDA-approved, minimally invasive, TAVR procedure, which stands for transcatheter aortic valve replacement, providing an alternative option for those unable to tolerate open-heart surgery. 
  • Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center breaks ground on a new 10-story patient tower.
  • The Wyatt Whitney Hip and Orthopedic Institute – home to the International Hip Dysplasia Institute – opens at Orlando Health.

2011

  • Orlando Health purchases the 171-bed Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, which had been serving residents in west Orange County for 60 years as an independent hospital. The purchase also includes Health Central Park, a 228-bed nursing facility.
  • The Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute opens on the downtown Orlando Health campus as the headquarters for a systemwide cardiovascular program. The 150,000-square-foot medical facility offers a patient-centered experience by integrating easy access and registration, coordinated appointments, increased communication and timely results.
  • Orlando Health announces a major $300 million expansion project at Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center that will include a new patient tower, an expanded emergency department and upgrades to several areas.

2010

  • Orlando Health forms Orlando Health Physician Group, designed to establish standards for consistent care delivery by employed physicians and to identify and facilitate effective ways for Orlando Health to work with independent physicians and practices.

2009
  • The Hewell Kids’ Kidney Center opens at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital as the first exclusive pediatric inpatient and outpatient dialysis center in Central Florida.
2008

  • New patient tower at Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital opens, adding 330,000 square feet and 140 beds.
  • Orlando Health receives a $2.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study new blood testing designed to gauge the seriousness of brain injuries.
  • Orlando Health expands women’s services with a new Women’s Imaging Center at Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital and Mammography Suite at Orlando Health South Lake Hospital.

2007

  • The Bert Martin’s Champions for Children Emergency Department and Trauma Center opens at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children as the only ER in Central Florida dedicated to caring for children.
  • Sand Lake Hospital changes its name to Dr. P. Phillips Hospital. At one time the largest citrus grower in the world, Dr. Phillips’ companies eventually became the Dr. Phillips Charities. The hospital, which stands on the location of the original Dr. Phillips orange groves, was renamed in honor of the founder and his foundation, which has been a committed supporter of Orlando Health.
  • The Air Care Team adds a second helicopter based at Orlando Health South Lake Hospital and celebrates the safe transport of its 21,000th patient.
  • Angiography is introduced in the system’s emergency departments as a noninvasive method for quickly diagnosing coronary artery disease.
  • Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies celebrates its first anniversary and the birth of more than 14,000 babies, making the hospital’s Labor & Delivery Unit the busiest in Florida.

2006

  • The 285-bed Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies opens. The 11-story facility houses one of the largest NICUs in the United States and is one of the nation’s leading hospitals for the delivery of newborns.
  • Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children announces expansion plans to include a total of 158 licensed beds, Bert Martin’s Champions for Children Emergency Department & Trauma Center, pediatric intensive care unit, pharmacy, onsite blood center, and redesigned atrium and PlayWorks areas.
  • The Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families introduces a new Teen Xpress mobile unit.
  • The Breast Care Center, including Harriett’s boutique, as well as the Rod Taylor Thoracic Care Center and the Cancer Research Institute, opens at the downtown cancer center.

2005

  • Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center installs a 1.5 Tesla open MRI scanner, providing superior image quality in a fraction of the time of previous open MRIs.
  • Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center introduces the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System, providing advantages such as smaller incisions, less blood loss and shorter recovery periods. MD Anderson – Orlando was first in the state to perform a robotic hysterectomy.
  • Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center’s Level One Trauma Center becomes the region’s first to install the 64-Slice Computed Tomography (CT) System, providing the most detailed images of the body available.

2004

  • The Air Care Team, Central Florida’s only hospital-based air ambulance, celebrates its 20th anniversary.
  • The Cynthia C. and William E. Perry Pavilion opens at Sand Lake Hospital, providing a home away from home for families of patients who do not live locally. 

2003

  • The Charles Lewis Pavilion opens as the organization’s flagship cancer facility. In addition to 60 private inpatient beds dedicated to oncology units, the 10-story, 220,000-square-foot multidisciplinary cancer facility houses all ambulatory and other services required for cancer care from diagnosis through all phases of treatment and follow up.
  • Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women celebrates its 100,000th birth.

2001

  • Approximately 2,500 women join Healthy Woman, Orlando Health Orlando Regional Healthcare’s free program just for women.

2000

  • The Howard Phillips Center for Children & Families opens, providing a much-needed resource for at-risk children by streamlining children’s advocacy and healthcare services.
  • Patient care begins at the newly purchased Lucerne Hospital to streamline care and relieve overcrowding at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

1999

  • Orlando Regional Healthcare System purchases Lucerne Hospital to streamline care and relieve overcrowding at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

1995
  • South Lake Hospital partners with Orlando Regional Healthcare System to bring high quality medical care to south Lake County.
1992
  • South Seminole Hospital joins the Orlando Health family, the organization’s first venture into Seminole County.
1991
  • MD Anderson Cancer Center – Orlando is created in a joint venture between The University of Texas MD Anderson in Houston and Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center.
  • The system’s original hospital’s 73-year-old buildings are torn down to make way for a $66 million expansion of the downtown Orlando campus.
1989
  • Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children & Women opens.
1987
  • Ambulatory Care Center for outpatient services opens on downtown Orlando campus.
1985
  • Newly constructed Sand Lake Hospital opens in southwest Orange County to serve the needs of growing population and tourist attractions in the area.
  • Air Care Team helicopter rescue service is established, serving a 26-county area.
1983
  • Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center becomes home to the region’s only Level One Trauma Center offering the highest level of trauma care. It is only the second in the state at the time.
1977
  • Orange General and Holiday hospitals consolidated to form the new Orlando Regional Medical Center.
1975
  • Neonatal Intensive Care Unit opens, one of only six of its kind in Florida. The hospital has the second-largest number of births in the state at 4,000 annually.
1972
  • Burn and Tissue Rehabilitation Unit opened.
1967
  • A 50-bed mental health center opens at Orange Memorial Hospital, increasing hospital’s bed capacity to 800.
1965
  • Orlando Health is the site of the first successful open-heart surgery in Central Florida, followed by the opening of the first coronary care unit in Central Florida — one of only a few in the country.
1951
  • A new north wing opens, with the modern-day addition of air conditioning for areas such as the intensive care unit, and surgical and labor suites.
  • Orange Memorial becomes an approved teaching hospital, one of the first in Florida, with training in medicine, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, and surgery.
1946
  • Orange General Hospital changes name to Orange Memorial Hospital in honor of the men and women who served in the world wars.
1945
  • Orange General Hospital is one of only five hospitals in Florida approved for intern training by the American Medical Association.
1938
  • Orange General Hospital Blood Bank, predecessor of the Central Florida Blood Bank, is established.
1935
  • Major improvements are added to the hospital, including a labor room, a delivery room and an operating room with stainless steel equipment. Previously, women delivered their babies in the same rooms used for surgery and emergency care.
1921
  • Major improvements are added to the hospital, including a labor room, a delivery room and an operating room with stainless steel equipment. Previously, women delivered their babies in the same rooms used for surgery and emergency care.
1918
  • Orange General Hospital opens as a four-story, 50-bed hospital in a former orange grove in south downtown Orlando.