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History of St. Andrews Village Retirement Community and St. Andrews Hospital and Healthcare Center
Since the 1980's, St. Andrews Hospital and Healthcare Center has maintained a strong commitment toward providing a full array of high-quality senior living options and services to the Boothbay region. This commitment started with the inception of St. Andrews Home Health Care, a Medicare-certified home care agency in 1984. In 1989, St. Andrews received approval from the State of Maine to open the Gregory Wing nursing facility within the confines of the existing hospital. The Gregory Wing resided at the hospital campus until early 2000.
In the 1990's, the Strategic Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees
determined that an opportunity existed to develop a senior living community
offering a range of services from cottage and apartment-style homes to
long-term healthcare service options. Construction began in 1998 and in
early 2000, the St. Andrews Village Retirement Community opened its doors
on Emery Lane.
St. Andrews Hospital was the direct outgrowth of Gregory Sanatorium established in 1908 by Dr. George Gregory. In 1909 it was incorporated and named St. Andrews Hospital under a special act of the Maine Legislature. Its charter was broad and all-inclusive, allowing for a nurse's training school and even a medical school, if the necessity ever presented itself. Under the careful management of Dr. Gregory, the hospital came through many lean periods. The greatest was in 1933 when the bank closed and left the hospital without finances. With much of his own hard work and the help of friends, Dr. Gregory brought the hospital through this crisis and continued the service to the community until his death in 1946. His work was taken over by his son, Dr. Philip Gregory, who served as Administrator until 1975 when he retired. In 1955, St. Andrews passed from a private corporation with stockholders to a non-profit corporation without stock controlled by a Board of Trustees.
In 1959, the original wooden structure was replaced by the present hospital
building. A new acute-care wing was constructed in 1987. Renovations were
carried out in the older portion to provide a much-needed 30-bed nursing
home, which was opened in 1988, named the Gregory Wing.
In 1994, two physicians' office buildings, located on campus, were structurally connected enabling primary-care physicians to function as a group practice. The group practice was initially named the Family Care Center and renamed the John F. Andrews Family Care Center in 1996 in honor of retiring physician, John F. Andrews, MD, who had given 42 years of service to St. Andrews and the community. A new Family Care Center building will be under construction during the summer of 2007.
On May 1, 1997, St. Andrews joined the MaineHealth® family, which includes the following hospitals: Maine Medical Center, Miles Healthcare, Nordex Practice Partners, Community Health Services, Spring Harbor, Stephens Memorial, Maine General, Mid Coast, and St. Mary's. This affiliation was developed to better provide an integrated healthcare delivery system in mid, central and western Maine.
In early 1998, St. Andrews Occupational Health was formed to provide an array of occupational health service to the businesses in and around Lincoln County. Central Office is located on Route 1 in Edgecomb.
Also in 1998, a School Health Center was started in partnership with the
regional school system. This innovative program brings healthcare providers
to the school and is located in the Boothbay Region High School.
On May 1, 1999, St. Andrews became a critical access hospital. That designation came under a Federal program that seeks to keep small hospitals open by increasing Medicare reimbursement rates for services. This designation allows St. Andrews to continue to provide care and still explore ways to expand the services provided to the community.