Central Maine Medical Center: A Recent History
CMMC Celebrates 125 Years
Central Maine Medical Center has served a vast expanse of Maine for more than 125 years. The hospital opened in July 1891 as Central Maine General Hospital, a name conceived by the hospital’s founders to communicate their vision of establishing a lasting, regional health care resource; or in the words of Edward H. Hill, M.D., the driving force behind the hospital’s creation, a hospital that “could expect to receive … support and patronage from our community and from regions far beyond as would give it the largest usefulness.” Serving patients “from regions far beyond” continues to be integral to Central Maine Medical Center’s raison d’être.
A Comprehensive Medical Center Evolves
In the mid-1990s Central Maine Medical Center began establishing a dedicated trauma program that was later designated as one of three such programs in Maine. This program was bolstered in 1998 with the creation of LifeFlight of Maine , a medical helicopter service jointly administered with Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.
In 1999 Northern Cumberland Memorial Hospital and Rumford Community Hospital merged with Central Maine Healthcare, CMMC’s parent company. The facilities soon changed their names to Bridgton Hospital and Rumford Hospital . CMH has helped both hospitals increase the availability of healthcare services and improve their physical facilities. In December 2001, Bridgton Hospital dedicated an entirely new state-of-the-art facility.
CMMC’s longtime effort to establish itself as a major medical center offering a comprehensive array of the highest level healthcare services began to take a more tangible form when the hospital opened the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute in the spring of 2003. CMHVI offers open heart and cardiac angioplasty services to a population base of some 400,000 people in central and western Maine.
As Central Maine Medical Center continues expanding its medical services, its mission remains unchanged: providing the best possible healthcare to the region’s residents.
