St. George Regional Hospital
Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital is a 284-bed hospital located on two campuses in St. George, Utah, United States. St. George Regional is the major medical referral center for northwestern Arizona, southeastern Nevada and southern Utah. St. George Regional is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and is a service of Intermountain Healthcare, a nonprofit health care system serving the Intermountain West. It is also a Level II Trauma Center.
History
The history of hospitals in Washington County began in 1913 when, with the support of the community, Dr. Donald A. McGregor opened the Washington County Hospital. The hospital was set up in what was formerly the Morris Hotel and had seven beds. In 1917, the name of the hospital was changed to the McGregor Hospital in honor of its original physician. It was operated by the McGregor family until its closure in 1952.In 1952 the county residents provided support again for a new facility to replace the McGregor Hospital. On August 6 the new Dixie Pioneer Memorial Hospital opened for service. This hospital was also owned and operated by Washington County. By the 1970s this facility had 41 beds. The former Dixie Pioneer Memorial Hospital, which was built on the west half of the current 400 East campus, was eventually torn down to make way for later expansion of medical facilities.
After twenty more years of growth within the region, the county residents once again approved funding for additional medical facilities. In May 1972 a bond was approved for the new Dixie Medical Center, with actual construction beginning in 1975. The new facility had 65 beds and was built on the campus of the former Dixie Pioneer Memorial Hospital. It officially opened on January 1, 1976.
In 1975, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints divested itself of its hospitals and turned over ownership and operation to a newly formed nonprofit organization. This new organization, Intermountain Healthcare assumed the operations of fifteen hospitals. However, the nearest of these hospitals was the Garfield Memorial Hospital, over away in Panguitch, Utah. In the months that followed the opening of the new Dixie Medical Center, Washington County arranged for the sale of its new hospital to IHC for $2.65 million. The deal, which was finalized in August 1976, was the first hospital facility to be purchased by IHC.
Less than a decade later further expansion of the facility was necessary, so another $12.2 million was completed on the medical center in 1983. In 2003 IHC changed the name to Dixie Regional Medical Center. Two years later, IHC changed its own name to Intermountain Healthcare. Rapid population growth in the region necessitated additional facilities, but since there was little additional room on the current campus an entirely new facility was built on a site about ten blocks east. Construction began in 2001 on the new facility at a cost of $100 million. It opened for service on November 24, 2003, but did not entirely replace the old facility. Jointly the two facilities had a 245-bed capacity. Life Flight began operating from the new facility on January 14, 2014.
When controversy arose over the name "Dixie" in 2020, Intermountain Health Care announced the name would change to its current name, Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital on January 1, 2021. Intermountain believed it was affecting the recruitment of doctors, nurses, and other staff that did not understand local use of the term "Dixie." The organization also stated that internally they had been advised for some time that "its facilities adopt a consistent naming pattern — one that includes the city name and the specific use of the word 'hospital.'"