Welcome to the new BGMH website!
Sixty years ago, as our hospital opened its doors for the first time, we were using manual typewriters! Twitter was something little birds did, and we might have imagined “texting” to have something to do with doing our homework. We “rang” the operator to place our calls -- now we “process” our words on computers and communicate with one another through “handheld devices.”
Like communication, medicine has made huge strides. In 1949 we hoped the doctor could get a good enough image from an X-Ray. Today we have a state of the art CT-Scan with three dimensional and fluoroscopic capabilities] and will soon be linked through digital means to a nationwide net-work of radiologists who will provide back-up and support to our local radiologist, with the capability of sending a computer image to the office computer of our local physicians at a left-click of the computer mouse! New technology will allow us to monitor patients from multiple nursing stations to improve patient care and hospital efficiency. Laboratory equipment sends reports directly to the attending physician. Looming next on the horizon is better care through the use of modern robotics.
Your parents and grandparents could not have imagined such marvelous things when they built your hospital, but what they did imagine was even more marvelous. They imagined a locally-owned, patient-oriented, convenient, accessible hospital right here in Gridley. They not only imagined it, they built it! Recently you all imagined another truly marvelous thing: bringing your hospital back under local control and management. On May 1, 2009, with your support, it was done.
Modern medicine is truly a marvelous thing, and the hospital a great asset, but it is the people of these communities who are the most wonderful. Thank you for your support. At BGMH, we are all looking forward to the next sixty years!
John Harris, Chairman