The Olivetan Benedictine Sisters founded St. Bernards Hospital in 1900.

In March, The American College of Surgeons, Commission on Cancer awarded the Ben E. Owens Cancer Treatment Center at St. Bernards the highest approval given, a full three year approval for their commit- ment to maintaining the Cancer program.

Ground is broken in May for Outpatient Surgery Center as a joint venture between St. Bernards and a number of area physicians.

In May, an announcement was made to purchase a P.E.T. Scanner. In December, construction was com- pleted and the GE PET Advance NXI was installed and being tested.

Ground was broken in October for a new Sports Medicine Clinic to be built on the campus of Arkansas State University. The clinic will also include a family practice clinic operated by First Care and will house the student health center for the University.

Ground is broken for construction of the St. Bernards Health & Wellness Institute—a 55,000-square-foot facility that will house Cardiac Rehab, Center for Weight Loss, Diabetes Management, Sports Medicine and Jonesboro Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine clinics as well as a cafe, spa and state-of-the-art fitness center. Construction is to be completed in Fall 2011.

On July 5, St. Bernards celebrates its 110th year of commitment, caring and serving the community.

The St. Bernards Imaging Center adds a third digital mammography unit and expands service hours, cutting down the length of time women have to wait to schedule mammograms.

The St. Bernards Sleep Disorders Center is the first such center in Northeast Arkansas to earn national accreditation from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

St. Bernards Home Health is recognized nationally as one of the top 500 home health agencies in the country according to the 2010 HomeCare Elite Listing.

St. Bernards joins with more than 100 businesses offering medical or medically related services to form the Matthews Medical Mile, the region’s premier destination for healthcare services. All members are located along a mile-long strip of Matthews Ave. in the heart of Jonesboro.

The St. Bernards Counseling Center introduces an Eating Disorders Program—an intensive outpatient program directed by a licensed clinical social worker.

The St. Bernards Birthcare Center launches the Gift of Motherhood eLearning Program, featuring an online childbirth class.

The Flo and Phil Jones Hospice House is built and dedicated following a successful $3 million-plus capital campaign led by the St. Bernards Development Foundation.

St. Bernards also celebrates the grand opening of Benedictine Manor I and II, a special housing complex for individuals 62 and older who meet specific Housing and Urban Development income guidelines.

The da Vinci® Surgical System is introduced at St. Bernards—the only robotic system in the region for some specific minimally invasive surgical treatments.

Surgeons at St. Bernards are the first in the region to offer incisionless surgery for the treatment of chronic heartburn (gastroesophageal reflux disease) using Trans Oral Incisionless Fundoplication (TIF).

St. Bernards equips its Mobile Women’s Health Unit with digital mammography equipment.

A new Varian iX Linear Accelerator is installed at the Ben E. Owens Cancer Treatment Center and adds to the arsenal of tools for radiation oncologists. The unit is equipped with Dynamic Targeting Image-Guided Radiation (IGRT) tools and gives physicians two linear accelerators to use in treating cancer patients.

The St. Bernards Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Center becomes the first PET Center in the state to earn accreditation by the American College of Radiology.

St. Bernards joins forces with the East Arkansas Area Agency on Aging to develop Total Life Healthcare, an innovative program for elderly residents requiring continuous care. The St. Bernards program is the first rural Program of All-Inclusive Care (PACE) program to be licensed in the United States.

The Diabetes Management Center and Center for Weight Loss move to a new location at 505 E.
Matthews.

St. Bernards is honored on a national level with the Thomson Reuters Top 100 Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders Award.

Two grand openings are held—the First Care Parker Road Clinic in February and the St. Bernards Senior Life Center in October.

Two new technology breakthroughs are also introduced to the growing lineup of services at St. Bernards. Endoscopic ultrasound is a non-surgical, minimally invasive procedure used to diagnose diseases and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. The PRESTIGE Cervical Disc offers a relief for chronic neck pain.

The Medical Office Building located in 1150 E. Matthews is constructed as the result of a partnership between St. Bernards and Healthcare Medical Group.

In order to accommodate a growth of services, the Center on Aging-Northeast and the St. Bernards Senior Health Clinic relocate to larger facilities at 303 E. Matthews.

Construction commences on an additional First Care Clinic and the St. Bernards Outpatient Physical Therapy Clinic, both located near the intersection of Parker Road and Southwest Drive.

St. Bernards Outpatient Imaging Center at 1144 E. Matthews opens its doors in July.

Construction and operation begins for the Stadium First Care Clinic located on the campus of Arkansas State University.

In July, St. Bernards Village completed a 35-unit expansion to its congregate housing, bringing total capacity to 142 congregate and assisted living units under one roof.

Ground is broken for the Outpatient Surgery Center as a joint venture between St. Bernards and a number of area physicians.

Heart Surgery Associates opens.

St. Bernards is the first hospital in the state of Arkansas and only the second hospital in the nation to receive the Employer of Choice national award.

St. Bernards partners with UAMS, the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging and AHEC-Northeast to open the Center on Aging-Northeast as a resource to senior adults.

The operation begins of eight Senior Life Centers in Craighead and Poinsett Counties to serve hot meals on a daily basis and provide activities for area residents.

In addition, St. Bernards opens the Senior Health Clinic and adds the region’s first geriatrician.

As the Senior Services division explodes with new programs, St. Bernards Village opens an expansion of its assisted living quarters and breaks ground for another expansion to the congregate living area.

Another year of "firsts" for St. Bernards....The Chest Pain Center is opened in the Emergency department, Brachytherapy is offered as a treatment for heart disease, and the R2 Image checker is introduced to the region for breast cancer detection. The Cancer Treatment Center celebrates 10 years of service and St. Bernards Village plans expansion to meet the growing needs of assisted living in the community.

St. Bernards Dayplace, a center that provides daylong care for senior adults, opens in January. On July 5, St. Bernards celebrates a century of serving by turning 100 years old. On August 12-13, over 3,800 people were served through Mission: Serve. At that time, St. Bernards, the Arkansas Army National Guard and the Jonesboro community united to provide over a quarter of a million dollars worth of free medical services to all participants.

The Heartcare Center, a 70,000 square foot facility is opened and houses heart services along with nuclear medicine in one convenient location. Late that summer, a Lightspeed CT Scanner is also added to speed the diagnosis process which is especially helpful in trauma situations.

St. Bernards Village, a unique retirement community which opened in October, enables residents to lead full and active lives. Scintimammography becomes available in the Department of Nuclear Medicine where an IV injection is used to detect breast cancer. St. Bernards introduces a Mobile Mammography Unit which will travel to 23 counties offering mammograms to groups of women in industry and other locations.

A new Magnetic Resonance Imaging System(MRI) came on line in January. The new system is nearly 10 times faster than the old one, and reduces the waiting period for MRI testing to one day. The addition of a new HiSpeed Computed Tomography System(CT/i) gives St. Bernards the most advanced CT diagnostic capabilities in Northeast Arkansas. The ground breaking on the St. Bernards Retirement Village takes place in October. The first phase of the village is to be completed in 1998.

St. Bernards Healthcare Associated Regional Providers(SHARP) is established as the first operational Physician-Hospital Organization(PHO) in the state. Transitional Care Facility is opened.

Center for Pain Management is opened and Pre-Admission Testing begins.

The Diagnostic & Treatment Center is completed, along with a multi-level parking deck. The Center includes the Ben E. Owens Cancer Treatment Center(including a Linear Accelerator), the Women's Diag- nostic Center, Hemodialysis, Area Health Education Center(AHEC) Northeast and the Gastroenterology Laboratory.

Balloon Angioplasty is offered. A helicopter pad and the Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) unit building is completed.

The Sleep Disorder Center is opened.

A Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory is added.

The North Wing is completed, incorporating Pediatrics and Medical-Surgical beds, bringing total capacity to 325.

A three-floor expansion of the East Wing brings bed capacity to 274. Intensive Coronary Care addition is also completed that year, and services added later include Cobalt Therapy(1976), CT Head Scan(1979), and Nuclear Cardiology(1980).

The North Wing and Laundry Building are completed, and a Pediatrics Department is added. Bed capacity is now 207.

Construction of the East Wing is dedicated, bringing total bed capacity to 150.

The hospital receives accreditation of its school for registered nurses. A year later, the hospital is approved by the American College of Surgeons.

The first X-ray Machine is installed.

The first patient is admitted to a six-room house on East Matthews Avenue.