Editing Memorial Hermann Health System (section)

==History==
[[Image:Memorial-hermann-hospital.jpg|left|thumb|[[Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center|Memorial Hermann Hospital TMC]] in 2003]]

The '''Memorial Hospital System''' was started in 1907 by The '''Rev. Dennis Pevoto''' who purchased an 18-bed [[sanatorium|sanitarium]] in downtown Houston, calling it the Baptist Sanatorium.  By the time he retired, it had become Memorial Hospital System, a 200-bed facility. Prominent local businessman [[George H. Hermann]] died in 1914, leaving a large portion of his $2.6 million estate for building and maintaining a hospital for the poor and sick of Houston.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} The City of Houston annexed the site of Hermann Hospital in 1922, adding about {{convert|1000|acre|ha}} of land to the city limits.<!--Print version exclusively has the information cited; the information is ''not'' included in the online edition--><ref name="Annexbitter">Lee, Renée C. "[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4243441.html Annexed Kingwood split on effects]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. Sunday October 8, 2006. A21. Retrieved on July 6, 2011. Print version exclusively has the information cited; the information is ''not'' included in the online edition.</ref> '''Hermann Hospital''' opened its doors in 1925, it also started a school of nursing that same year.[[File:Hermann Hospital.jpg|thumb|Hermann Hospital in the 1920s]]

Hermann Hospital was the first to operate in the neighborhood which later became the [[Texas Medical Center]]. In 1943 this hospital was the first in Texas to receive a shipment of the new wonder drug, [[penicillin]]. In 1946 it was also the first hospital to perform a [[cardiac catheterization]]. It remains the only hospital in the Houston area to have a burn-treatment center.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.memorialhermann.org/aboutus/ |title=About Memorial Hermann |website=Memorialhermann.org |access-date=2016-11-29}}</ref>

The flagship Texas Medical Center hospital is home to '''[[Memorial Hermann Life Flight]]''', an emergency and critical-care-transport [[air ambulance|aeromedical service]]. Founded in 1976, LifeFlight was the first aeromedical service in Texas, and second in the [[United States]]. It transports around 3,000 patients annually.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.memorialhermann.org/specialtyservices/emergencyservices/content.aspx?id=3538 |title=About Us &#124; Texas Trauma Institute at Memorial Hermann |website=Memorialhermann.org |access-date=2016-11-29}}</ref> In 1985 the first successful [[liver transplant]] occurred here as well. In 1992 it was also the first hospital in the nation to perform a living-donor transplant on a neonatal patient.

In 1993 Memorial Hermann - Texas Medical Center acquired the region's first [[Gamma Knife]]. The first four-organ transplant in Houston also was performed here in 2006, along with it being the first hospital in the world to perform robotic re-constructive aortic surgery.

Hermann Hospital and the Memorial Healthcare System, which at the time had five hospitals, merged in 1997.<ref>Ackerman, Todd. "[http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/West-Houston-is-seeing-a-hospital-building-boom-1547580.php West Houston is seeing a hospital building boom]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. April 25, 2011. Retrieved on November 2, 2013.</ref> The "Memorial Hermann" name was first used on November 4, 1997 after the Hermann Healthcare System and Memorial Healthcare System completed their merger, becoming the largest [[not-for-profit]] health care system in the nation.
[[File:MemorialHermannoffices.jpg|thumb|left|Former Memorial Hermann Healthcare System offices in [[Greater Sharpstown]]]]
In August 2009 Memorial Hermann Hospital announced that it planned to sell its Southwest Hospital in [[Greater Sharpstown]] to the [[Harris County Hospital District]], with plans to make the hospital its third general hospital.<ref>O'Hare, Peggy. "[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/alief/news/6563741.html County wants to buy Memorial Hermann SW]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. August 7, 2009. Retrieved on August 8, 2009.</ref> However, the county withdrew its bid in September 2009.<ref>"[http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2009/09/14/daily45.html?s=industry&i=high_tech Harris County Hospital District withdraws bid for Memorial Hermann Southwest]." ''[[Houston Business Journal]]''. Thursday September 17, 2009. Retrieved on September 25, 2009.</ref> Memorial Hermann has since made efforts to rebuild the Southwest Hospital.