Growing with You

Founded in 1962, growth and community involvement continue to be prominent themes at Peace River Regional Medical Center with over 40 years of service to Charlotte and south Sarasota Counties.  Founded by a group of local physicians who were passionate about serving the city's expanding population, Peace River Regional's original 50-bed hospital opened on June 4, 1962.  There were three full-time physicians and one part-time physician associated with Peace River Regional at this time.  

Since then, this small, one-story community hospital has grown into a 219-bed Joint Commission Accredited full service hospital that is appropriately known as: Your Hospital for Life.  Recognized locally as a leading health care provider, Peace River Regional Medical Center is large enough to offer the full-continuum of care that you and your family need, but small enough to provide the personal attention that you and your family deserve.  

Peace River Regional has a vision to provide a continuum of services and facilities to manage the health care needs of the citizens of Charlotte County and its contiguous areas. 

• In 1998, a 33,000 square foot ambulatory care facility was built to provide a full range of services for residents and visitors to the City of North Port and south Sarasota County area.  It is known as Peace River’s North Port HealthPark.
• In 2005, Peace River Regional Medical Center was the first facility in the area to expand their Emergency Care Center to become the newest, most technologically advanced center of its kind in southwest Florida.
• In April 2008, the Peace River Center for Balance Disorders opened its doors.  Here, they utilize the same breakthrough technology as NASA, technology originally created to diagnose and treat the cause of dizziness and loss of balance in astronauts upon their return from shuttle missions.  This Center is one of a kind; there are only a small handful of treatment facilities in all of southwest Florida utilizing this amazing technology.    
• In July 2008, Peace River Regional added a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU.  As the only Licensed Obstetric and Pediatric Units in Charlotte County, Peace River Regional recognized the need in the community for a unit specializing in providing a high level of intensive care for premature or ill newborn infants.  This unit has served over 200 babies since opening and is the showcase for the facility.  

These four mentions merely put a dent in the number of expansions and additions that Peace River Regional Medical Center has made over the years to meet the needs of a growing community, and they don’t plan on stopping any time soon.  As of December 16th, the Peace River Regional Murdock Women's Imaging Center relocated to the Peace River Regional campus and has expanded to offer additional services.  It is known as Peace River Regional's Outpatient Diagnostic Services Center, or ODS. 

The construction of the Outpatient Diagnostic Services Center located on Peace River Regional’s campus was completed early this month.  This center continues to provide the broad range of diagnostic services that it was when located in the Murdock area – being dedicated solely to women's health issues such as mammography and bone density testing for osteoporosis – but will now provide an even broader spectrum of services, including:

• Digital Mammography
• Full-service Outpatient Laboratory
• Ultrasound
• Stereotactic Breast Biopsy
• Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• Electroencephalograms (EEG)
• Electrocardiography (EKG)
• Computed Tomography (CT Scan)
• Bone Density Scans
• Diagnostic X-ray
• Nuclear Medicine

This is just the beginning for many more great things to come at Peace River Regional Medical Center.  The staff at Peace River Regional takes pride in providing the members of Charlotte and Sarasota Counties the best care possible and they do so by continuously evaluating the needs of their patients.  The addition of the Outpatient Diagnostic Services Center is just one more step Peace River Regional Medical Center is taking to become – more so than ever – your hospital for life.