Our History at Garnet Health

At the outset, the founders of Goshen Emergency Hospital (which later became Arden Hill Hospital) and the Thrall Hospital (which later became institutional Horton Medical Center) had their own community and its pressing health needs in mind when they each mobilized to create these early providers of healthcare. Over the next 100+ years, these two hospitals evolved into sophisticated and specialized centers of care serving individuals across the Mid-Hudson Region. In November 2000, recognizing the challenging realities of today's healthcare industry and the growing health needs of our community, Arden Hill Hospital and Horton Medical Center consolidated. Their goal was to provide 'Medical Excellence Close to Home' by increasing access and availability to primary and specialty healthcare services, enhancing patient convenience, and providing an environment that offers superior medical care. On September 1, 2002, the full asset merger of Arden Hill Hospital and Horton Medical Center was officially completed. The hospitals would now be known as Orange Regional Medical Center.

This merger provided 450 beds, over 2,400 healthcare professionals and more than 550 outstanding physicians and a complete range of acute inpatient services in nearly every medical specialty. In addition, the broad range of sophisticated outpatient healthcare services and state-of-the-art technologies were available at the main campuses in Goshen and Middletown, as well as 9 conveniently located off-site locations.

Arden Hill's History

In May 1908, a group of Goshen women, headed by Mrs. Susan Randall Bacon, founded the Goshen Emergency Hospital. The idea was to take care of accident cases and to meet emergencies. According to an article in The Middletown Times Herald-Record, (11/24/61) The Goshen Emergency Hospital treated its first patient the day it opened, July 4, 1908.

"He was a Black Dirt farmhand felled by the heat, not a fireworks casualty which the ladies had dreadingly hastened their opening to accommodate."

By September 1908, the service was expanded to include maternity cases under the medical direction of Dr. Daniel T. Condict. In October 1908, the hospital, then two rooms, was chartered. Two rooms comprised that hospital, one located in rented quarters on the main business street. One nurse was in attendance, with members of the Hospital's board taking "relief tours."

In 1915 the Hospital moved to Greenwich Avenue, occupying the former home of Mrs. Luella Morris Van Leuvan, whose will had made the property available for this purpose. Additions to the building gradually altered its appearance. In 1922, the maternity wing was added. In 1932, a three-story addition was constructed in the rear to house the male and female wards and the operating room. A new delivery room and labor room were built in 1941. Another change in 1954 added a four-bed semi-private room. A $25,000 Ford Foundation grant helped complete a new kitchen and staff dining room.

Provisionally accredited in 1954, The Goshen Hospital achieved full accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation in 1957, offering 50 inpatient beds (including 10 maternity beds) and 12 bassinets. There were 90 full- and part-time employees including 32 registered nurses with a full-time hospital administrator in charge. The medical staff consisted of 17 regular physicians, 37 consulting physicians, 23 courtesy physicians, and seven dentists. Among the staff, six were specialists who had been certified by their respective American Boards

In February 1960, The Goshen Hospital attained the highest level of occupancy.  The result was not unexpected because in 1959 the Hospital recorded an overall occupancy rate of 74 percent, well above the critical point of 66 percent occupancy for a 50-bed hospital. The medical-surgical divisions of the Hospital reported 85 percent occupancy. This included 100 percent or better occupancy on no less than 72 days. The Goshen Hospital operated with a budget of about $300,000 in 1959. The $12,000 raised by the annual fund drive was used for new equipment.

In 1959, a 12-acre tract on the outskirts of the village was given with the condition that action to build a new hospital be taken within five years. In 1960, The Goshen Hospital became a clinical training facility for students in the Associate Nurses Degree program at Orange County Community College. By April, 1965, The Goshen Hospital broke ground for the nation's first Progressive Patient Care hospital of less than 100 beds. In 1967, The Goshen Hospital changed its name to Arden Hill Hospital and moved to Harriman Drive on May 20. The site was formerly the Arden Homestead Farm. It was purchased, in October 1963, from the County of Orange and the Orange County Community College for $44,000.

Cannon, Thiele, Betz and Cannon of Niagara Falls, which had specialized in smaller hospitals, had worked with Goshen Hospital and its consultant to build the first hospital in the nation capable of expansion along Progressive Patient Care Lines. In 1972, The Jeanne E. Jonas Mental Health wing opened with 31 beds. The addition of a 20 bed self-care wing in 1973 further expanded the facility.

In 1975, a $7 million groundbreaking for new construction to enable better care and increased efficiency took place. The Medical Arts Buildings were added to the campus, allowing for suite rentals and temporary housing of mammography units and gamma camera.

Horton Hospital's History

Thrall Hospital was established through the efforts of Dr. Julia E. Bradner and was Middletown's first hospital. In December of 1887, Bradner established the Middletown Hospital Association, which consisted of eight other ladies, each representing a different church. After nearly four years of campaigning and raising funds to build a hospital, the Middletown Hospital Association raised a meager $5,000.

In the spring of 1891, Mrs. S. Maretta Thrall donated land and the money to build the hospital. Thrall hospital formally opened on Tuesday May 10, 1892. Thrall hospital treated 81 patients in its first fiscal year. On March 12, 1929, Thrall hospital officially closed and ended its 36-year existence as Elizabeth A. Horton Memorial Hospital opened its doors. The remaining patients were transported by ambulance to the new site. In 1938, the neglected hospital building was torn down and the land was given to Thrall Park.

A generous bequest from Eugene Horton, in honor of his late mother Elizabeth Ann Radeker Horton, led to the construction of a newer and better facility on Prospect Avenue.  Architect David A. Canfield was hired to design the hospital and on March 12, 1929 the Elizabeth A. Horton Memorial hospital opened.

In December 1951 the building committee chose William P. Schorn of New York to draw up plans for the first hospital wing. The circular design was chosen, including a basement and three floors. A double ambulance garage was provided on the lowest level, labor and delivery rooms on the first floor, obstetrical suites on the second and pediatrics facilities on the third floor. The hospital circular wing was dedicated in January 1956 and was built at a cost of $950,000.

The $1.8 million addition called the Morrison Pavilion, in honor of the family that had been the hospital's greatest benefactor, was dedicated on May 12, 1963. Morrison Pavilion added 92 beds, an emergency room with five beds; a two car ambulance court and much needed space to house the X-ray department, laboratory, pharmacy, central supply and laundry. A new wing opened in the fall of 1971 and a few months later the Board of Directors voted to make it a memorial to Dr. Michael F. Camillo who was killed by a deranged patient in March 1971. Thus it became the Michael F. Camillo, M.D. Pavilion, an 80-bed addition that made Horton Memorial Hospital the largest hospital in Orange County and changed its status from a city institution to a regional health care center.

After 11 years of extensive planning, the patient service Tower Building was completed in 1980. The $21 million extension added 144 replacement beds, an emergency/ambulatory care facility, an eight-room surgical operating suite, critical care units, respiratory services facilities, diagnostic radiology facilities, pharmacy, central processing, purchasing and receiving, an auditorium, coffee shop, and gift shop.

The Merger of Arden Hill Hospital and Horton Medical Center

Orange Regional Medical Center - the merger of Arden Hill Hospital and Horton Medical Center - - evolved as the hospitals were working on a project called the Greater Hudson Valley Health System. The project was originally planned to be a four hospital system comprised of Arden Hill Hospital, Horton Medical Center, St. Luke's Hospital in Newburgh, and The Cornwall Hospital in Cornwall. As GHVHS evolved, it became apparent that St. Luke's/Cornwall Hospital in the eastern portion of Orange County and Horton/Arden Hill Hospital in the west, served distinct service areas and markets.

In 1999, to ensure that quality healthcare would continue to be provided for the Mid-Hudson Region, the Board of Directors of Arden Hill Hospital in Goshen and Horton Medical Center in Middletown determined that the hospitals should pool resources and work together toward a merger. This merger would combine the best of both hospitals and provide the resources necessary to bring currently unavailable services and physician specialists to our area, virtually eliminating the need to travel outside of Orange County for the vast majority of our health care needs. At the same time, a similar effort was occurring on the eastern side of the county with the merger of St. Luke's and Cornwall hospitals.

As a result, the benefits originally envisioned by bringing together the GHVHS hospitals under a common parent -- improving coordination and increasing efficiency -- were largely fulfilled by means of the pairing and merger of the hospitals in the eastern and western sections of Orange County, New York.

Effective December 20, 2001, St. Luke's/Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh and Cornwall respectively withdrew from the Greater Hudson Valley Health System. The two remaining System members were Arden Hill Hospital in Goshen and Horton Medical Center in Middletown On November 20, 2000, Arden Hill Hospital (AHH) and Horton Medical Center (HMC) formally announced the consolidation of their individual boards and the establishment of a single, equally representative governing Board of Directors - or "mirror board." It was also announced that the hospitals' management staffs were to be consolidated into a unified administrative/management team. These actions were hailed as the first steps toward a full asset merger of the two organizations. In the years that followed, the System grew its service offerings. It was the first hospital in Orange County to offer diagnostic, emergency and elective angioplasty to cardiac patients. Additionally, it added a Bone & Joint Center, bariatric surgery services, electronic health records and significantly enhanced diagnostic technology.

The hospitals officially merged September 1, 2002 giving the new entity the ability to create programs and acquire equipment neither hospital could afford on its own. The service area of the hospitals now included much of Orange County, southern and eastern portions of Sullivan County, southern Ulster County, the eastern border regions of Pennsylvania and the northern border areas of New Jersey. On October 5, 2002 the combined institutions of Horton Medical Center and Arden Hill Hospital became known as Orange Regional Medical Center.

In 2003, planning began for a new hospital to physically consolidate the two campuses at a new location.  On Thursday, May 29, 2003 a press conference was held at – Orange Regional Medical Center’s Horton Campus to announce details of the purchase of a site for a new hospital. The 61 acre site is located at 707 East Main Street in the Town of Wallkill. Plans were developed, a Certificate of Need was secured, financing was arranged and ground was broken in March 2008 for the first new free standing community hospital in New York State in twenty years.

In 2005, a committee comprised of board members and community representatives began to guide development and design of the new state-of-the-art facility for Orange Regional Medical Center On June 18, 2008, over 600 guests attended an enormous ground-breaking celebration which featured music by the U.S. Military Academy Band. It was a project of colossal scope and significance.

After three years of construction by HBE Corp. from St. Louis, Missouri, the hospital opened on Friday, August 5, 2011 and was the first new, freestanding hospital in New York State in more than 20 years. It involved closing two hospitals, rich in history and importance and combining them at one centrally located property. 234 patients were moved from the old hospitals to the new hospital in just eight hours.

Donor support helped bring the new campus to life, raising $21 million, the largest capital campaign in the hospital’s history. The largest single gift to the campaign, $6 million, came from philanthropists Alan and Sandra Gerry. Today, Orange Regional Medical Center, now known as Garnet Health Medical Center, is a lasting reminder of the support, dedication and vision of those who sought to dramatically enhance the health and well-being of you and your family.