A History of Improving Health

Spectrum Health Celebrates History Through Displays, Web

Spectrum Health has been focused on improving the future of health care in the communities it serves through new facilities, technology, services and expert medical providers. Spectrum Health is also paying homage to the history and people that enabled the organization to be ranked as one of the top health care systems in the nation for quality.

When Spectrum Health completed a $98 million Blodgett Hospital expansion and renovation project last fall, a special exhibit was dedicated to the leaders, physicians, staff and volunteers who were a part of the hospital’s history. The exhibit is located just off the main Blodgett Hospital lobby, in the entryway to the patient care addition. The exhibit is also online at www.spectrumhealth.org/blodgett_timeline

This spring, the focus is on the history of Butterworth Hospital. The Butterworth Hospital History Room quietly opened in January with the completion of the new Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. The room is located along the corridor between the Butterworth Hospital lobby and the east entrance to the new children’s hospital.

Now, the exhibit is also accessible online at www.spectrumhealth.org/butterworth_timeline.

“This exhibit celebrates the pioneers of medicine and nursing care that built Butterworth Hospital and whose impact is still felt throughout the hospital and system today,” said Matt Van Vranken, executive vice president, Spectrum Health, president, Spectrum Health Hospital Group. “As excited as we are by where we are going as health care leaders, it is important to honor how we got here and who made this possible.”

The Butterworth exhibit includes original images, artifacts, nursing uniforms and surgical instruments dating back to the hospital’s start in 1873. The history room is open to the public between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which includes nine hospitals and 180 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 600 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 625,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with more than 17,700 employees. The organization provided $115.9 million in community benefit during its 2010 fiscal year. In 2010, Spectrum Health was named a Top 10 Health System by Thomson Reuters.