First "Emergency Room on Wheels"

St. Vincent’s will always be known for its slogan, “Where Babies Come From.”  It’s no surprise because Obstetrics has been a major priority for St. Vincent’s throughout its 125 years. Because of St. Vincent’s mission to provide services to anyone in need, a large number of babies were delivered here, especially before health insurance paid little or nothing toward the expense of delivering babies. 

During the 1950s, Dr. Edwin Waldrop, Chief of Obstetrics, wanted the department to be the finest known.  So St. Vincent’s obstetricians and nurses began pioneering a number of innovations during that time. Among them was Birmingham’s, and quite possibly the world’s, first use of an Emergency Room on Wheels, also known as a Crash Cart or Code Cart. These mobile carts on wheels give medical staff quick and easy access to lifesaving medical equipment and medications when responding to patients during an emergency.

While many other hospitals during the 1960s lay claims to the crash cart invention,  there is no other hospital whose history of the crash cart traces back to 1955 like St. Vincent’s. 

Read an excerpt below of the innovation featured on page 69 in "The St. Vincent's Story: A Century of Caring."