St. Vincent’s has always built a reputation for innovation with a series of firsts: 

• 1903: St. Vincent's establishes Alabama’s first nursing school.

• 1905: St. Vincent's opens its first outpatient clinic for the poor.

• 1915: St. Vincent's becomes the first hospital in Alabama to have an X-ray department.

• 1916: Sister Chrysostom Moynahan becomes Alabama’s first registered nurse.

• 1955: St. Vincent's creates the first crash cart in Alabama. While many other hospitals during the 1960s lay claim to the crash cart invention,  there is no other hospital whose history of the crash cart traces back to 1955 like St. Vincent’s.  

• 1985: Camp Bluebird is established as the first adult cancer camp in the United States. Participants gather for three days of activities, workshops, and events. The camp is funded by Ascension St. Vincent's Foundation, as well as private donations. Other cities in Alabama and across the country have duplicated the program due to its success.

• 2012: St. Vincent's Birmingham opens Alabama's first comprehensive heart valve clinic for patients with valvular heart disease. 

• 2015: St. Vincent's Birmingham becomes the first hospital in the state to perform the WATCHMAN implant procedure. This device helps reduce stroke risk in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AFib). 

• 2016: St. Vincent's Birmingham is the first hospital in Alabama to offer minimally invasive spinal surgery using the Mazor Robotics Renaissance Guidance System. 

• 2018: St. Vincent's Birmingham became the first in the state and one of only two hospitals in the country to offer multiple Mazor robots.