St. Anthony Regional Hospital has a tradition of caring, celebrating more than a century of service.
Probably no man exercised more influence on the Carroll area than Father Joseph Kuemper, an ordained Roman Catholic priest and professor at the College of Dubuque (now Loras College). Father Kuemper served in several parishes in eastern Iowa before coming to Carroll as pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Church in 1901.
Father Kuemper saw the need and advantages of a medical health center to serve the area. He used his own funds to purchase land in the south part of Carroll, overlooking the town and countryside. He assembled volunteers and personally led them in a house-to-house, farm-to-farm canvass.
Father Kuemper wasted no time in his selection of who would run the facility. He contacted the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. He offered $1,000 and a completed, equipped facility if they would administer and serve the proposed hospital. The sisters accepted and the hospital took the name of St. Anthony. It was on the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, June 13, 1905, that the 30-bed hospital was dedicated.
Building additions in 1918, 1922 and 1930 brought the hospital’s capacity to 110. A 78-bed nursing home connected to the facility was completed in 1963.
The original hospital structure built in 1905 was replaced in 1971 with a more modern, four-story structure built primarily for inpatient hospital healthcare. That new building remained virtually unchanged for more than two decades until 1994 when St. Anthony dedicated a 78,000-square-foot major renovation and expansion project which focused on the delivery of outpatient services. The community joined in support of these development projects by partnering with the St. Anthony Foundation in a successful capital campaign that resulted in a positive sense of pride and ensured that St. Anthony Regional Hospital & Nursing Home would continue to be strong for future generations.
At the end of 2000, St. Anthony announced its “Campaign for Dignity,” a capital campaign designed to add an 18-unit Alzheimer’s facility and update the existing nursing home. The project was completed in June of 2003 and includes a secure, homelike Alzheimer’s unit, enclosed garden and courtyard, new private nursing home rooms and an expanded adult day care program.
In January 2005, the year-long 100th anniversary celebration culminated with the ribbon cutting of a new three-story facility built to address both current and future healthcare challenges of the community. This expansion provided all-new private acute care patient rooms and included a new six-bed intensive care unit. Following the opening of the acute care addition, two physician offices were established on the first floor of that building, bringing expanded orthopedic and general surgery options to St. Anthony.
On August 22, 2006, St. Anthony Regional Hospital held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new 120,000-square-foot inpatient and outpatient surgery center. The new $25 million surgery center celebrated its opening at a community event on June 1, 2008. The new surgery center replaces St. Anthony’s 35-year-old surgery facilities and existing technology to accommodate the growth from two surgeons in 1971 to nine active surgeons who live in Carroll today. The surgery center features the latest surgical technology, patient tracking systems and the convenience of two levels of covered parking.
Read more about the symbols and the St. Anthony statue that adorns the Surgery Center Building.
For over a hundred years, St. Anthony Regional Hospital & Nursing Home has demonstrated a continued commitment to excellence in responding to the healthcare needs of our local community. Inspired by the mission of service demonstrated by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration the hospital makes caring for people our first priority in approaching the ever-changing field of modern healthcare. As we look to the future, St. Anthony carries on a rich tradition of service to the communities of west central Iowa.