Control of the Louisville Marine Hospital was given to the mayor and city council, meaning the hospital could be supported by city taxes. The hospital was renamed Louisville City Hospital. At this point, care was off­ered to those living in the city who could not aff­ord health care. From the beginning, UofL Health has provided inclusive care to all people.

Dr. Samuel Gross, a physician at Louisville City Hospital, set up one of the first surgical laboratories in the country. He also performed the world’s first successful ligation of subclavian artery aneurysm. His work earned him great respect and he is considered among the most influential surgeons of the 19th century.

The School of Nursing of the Louisville City Hospital was established. The program took three years to complete and included working experience and courses in medicine, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, contagion, psychiatry, operation room techniques and dietetics. With time, this eventually became the UofL School of Nursing.

The birth of trauma care in the United States came when Dr. R. Arnold Griswold and Louisville City Hospital started accident services. The primary mission of accident services was to care for patients with injuries and fractures. Later in the 1930s, Dr. R. Arnold Griswold worked with the Louisville Police Department to equip station wagons and ­firetrucks with medical supplies and train police on giving emergency care en route to the hospital, an early version of emergency medical services. Patients dealing with emergencies were brought to Louisville City Hospital speci­fically because they would be cared for regardless of their ability to pay. This service was the ­first of its kind and led to the hospital’s robust emergency department.

The announcement of the construction of a new, million-dollar hospital for Louisville City Hospital meant that it must move and operate in a temporary location. Louisville City Hospital’s tuberculosis patients were sent to Waverly Hills Sanatorium for treatment, marking an affiliation between the two hospitals. The rest of the patients were relocated to the hospital’s temporary quarters.

Dr. Alice Pickett became the ­first woman faculty member at the UofL School of Medicine, and chief of Obstetrics at Louisville City Hospital. As a leader in public health, Dr. Pickett established local and statewide clinics for prenatal care and birth control.

Dr. R. Arnold Griswold was named chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Louisville. Dr. Griswold invented an innovative device for fracture reduction known as the “Griswold Machine.” Dr. Griswold developed Louisville’s fi­rst blood bank as well as autotransfusion, the process of receiving your own blood as transfusion as opposed to a donor’s. Dr. Griswold was also among the early proponents of the utilization of seatbelts, testifying in Congress on the potential of lives saved.

Kornhauser Health Sciences Library

Before this point, only those in the city of Louisville were able to receive care at the Louisville City Hospital. With the merger of the city and county boards of health came great change for the hospital. The hospital changed its name to Louisville General Hospital and began to provide care for those in the city of Louisville and rural Jefferson County. Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. (aka Muhammad Ali) was born at Louisville General Hospital.

The University of Louisville Medical School and the Louisville General Hospital welcomed its ­first two Black faculty and physicians, Drs. Orville Ballard and Grace M. James. Dr. Ballard practiced medicine and Dr. James practiced pediatrics. Louisville General Hospital was one of the fi­rst hospitals in Louisville to welcome Black physicians.

Dr. Hiram C. Polk, Jr. joined the University of Louisville School of Medicine as the chair of the Department of Surgery and the chief of Surgery for Louisville General Hospital. Dr. Polk is known for his pioneering research on proper surgical antibiotic use to reduce surgical site infections, burn care, concepts in treatment of malignant melanoma, surgical oncology, hiatal hernia treatment, trauma surgery and systems development and many contributions in the development of contemporary surgical training methods and models.

The University of Louisville secured ownership of Louisville General Hospital, which led to another name change for the hospital: University Hospital.

Now under the leadership of UofL, plans were established to begin a $52 million building project that would include a teaching hospital, ambulatory care building, and a parking garage. A $12 million cancer center was added to medical campus in collaboration with the Regional Cancer Center Corporation (RCCC).

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University Hospital opens with more than 400 beds, along with a state-of-the-art NICU, burn center, operating rooms and emergency services.

When the hospital opened it also brought the official designation as the only Level I Trauma Center, for adults, in the region and one of only two in Kentucky. Being recognized by the American College of Surgeons as ACS-Veri­fied for Level I Trauma indicates that the hospital is able to provide care to the most severely injured patients. The fully Equipped Trauma Center makes the proper treatment of all signi­ficant injuries possible.

Kornhauser Health Sciences Library

The new University Hospital also expanded the reach of care with the hospital’s fi­rst helicopter services. STAT Flight. The perfect addition to University Hospital’s emergency department and Level I Trauma Center, the helicopter was started by a doctor who could start treatment before the flight arrived back in Louisville. The helicopter could travel about 130 miles, which reduced deaths in rural Kentucky and Southern Indiana by 10-20%.

Victims of the shooting at Standard Gravure, the printing company that produced the Courier Journal newspaper, were rushed to University Hospital after the tragic incident and treated in the Level 1 Trauma Center. At the time, the shooting was the worst workplace shooting in United States history.

UofL Hospital became the ­first Joint Commission-certifi­ed Comprehensive Stroke Center in Kentucky, and only the 20th in the United States. This accreditation, led by Dr. Kerri Remmel, chair of the Department of Neurology, reflects UofL Hospital’s ability to treat patients with the most comprehensive stroke treatments that are available. Patients can expect the highest level of stroke care within minutes of arriving.

UofL Health Photo Library

While the COVID-19 pandemic brought considerable uncertainty, UofL Health – UofL Hospital was at the forefront of care. The hospital developed the fi­rst drive-thru COVID testing site in Kentucky. When UofL Hospital became one of the fi­rst in the U.S. to receive the COVID vaccine, the testing site began to administer vaccinations. Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer, was the ­first in Kentucky to receive the vaccine. Endless thanks go out to the staff who were put on the frontlines throughout the pandemic.

UofL Health – UofL Hospital – Burn Center became Kentucky’s ­first American Burn Association verifi­ed Burn Center. The high-quality patient care provided by the Burn Center at UofL Hospital helps patients from the time of injury through rehabilitation. The team includes nurses, physicians and rehabilitation specialists, all specially-trained to care for burn patients in the state-of-the-art burn unit.