The following article entitled Banner Desert Medical Center appeared in The Villager, a weekly newsletter published by Friendship Village Tempe, on May 15, 2020. We thought that you would all enjoy reading the article written by Paul McCleary with contributions by Dr. and Mrs. Richard Brown.
In 1980, across the open fields where cotton or alfalfa was growing could be seen the silhouette of the Desert Samaritan Hospital, now known as Banner Desert Medical Center. This was the second institution just across the canal from Friendship Village where 97% of its residences receive emergency assistance or hospitalization today. Mesa was without a hospital for its first 43 years of existence. In June 1919, following the influenza pandemic, a group gathered on the lawn of the Chandler Court in support of a hospital. The result of the meeting was to name a committee to investigate “a location which would be upon the Mesa-Tempe highway somewhere between Mesa and the (University of Arizona) experimental farm.” No decision was made about how the cost of a hospital would be raised. It was more than two years before a site could be chosen and a hospital opened. The property chosen was the residence of John T. & Geneva LeSueur at Hibbert and Main Street, Mesa. Sitting on two acres, the 12-room mansion and surrounding land allowed for future expansion.
The Cotton Crash of 1922 almost sank the project when mortgage payments were not met. In order for the hospital not to fail, Geneva Casto LeSueur offered to contribute half the value of the home. The Woman’s Club of Mesa and the city stepped in to make up the balance. In 1923, when the non-profit Southside District Hospital was organized, patients from Mesa, Tempe, Gilbert and Chandler finally had a 12-bed hospital. The nomenclature “Southside District” referred to the communities south of the Salt River or today called the East Valley.
By 1933, with the population growth in the East Valley, the hospital needed to grow. With Works Project Administration assistance, a larger building was appended, swelling the size to 37 beds with well-equipped surgical suites on the second floor. As late as 1956, Southside Hospital was still the only hospital for a rapidly growing city with capacity increased to 103 beds. However, the rapid change in medical practices made the Southside Hospital obsolete. Though several hundred thousand dollars had been saved for hospital expansion in Mesa, it was nowhere near enough for a new hospital. After a hospital bond issue to raise money failed at the ballot box, the hospital arranged a merger with Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, which provided the equity to finance a whole new hospital in Mesa, named Desert Samaritan Hospital, located at the corner of Dobson Road and Southern Avenue.*
The Desert Samaritan Hospital Mesa was built by 1973 on Dobson Ranch land acquired from a leading Methodist family. Three years later the committee to plan Friendship Village was organized. The Desert Samaritan Hospital was a part of a larger health care system, which in Arizona was started by Lulu Clifton, a Deaconess in the Methodist Church from Nebraska. Clifton came to Phoenix in 1900 to recover from tuberculosis. As she recovered, Clifton saw a need for a hospital in the growing desert town. In 1911, Clifton, with the help of other prominent Methodists, founded the Arizona Deaconess Hospital and a nurses training program in a rented apartment building in downtown Phoenix. In 1917, the group acquired land on McDowell Road and 10th Street (a remote area of rural Phoenix at the time) for a permanent hospital. After construction, which was delayed during World War I, the hospital opened in 1923. The hospital's name was changed to Good Samaritan Hospital in 1928.
In 1999, two nonprofit entities, Samaritan Health System (dating back to 1911) and Lutheran Health Systems (dating back to 1938) merged, forming Banner Health. The Banner Health System has been going through a period of rapid expansion through acquisition, merger and planned expansion. Currently, Banner Health has become a premier health care system operating 28 hospitals in six states. (See; Banner Health System for complete information.) Banner Desert Medical Center, immediately across the canal, now includes Cardon Children’s Medical Center. With over 600 beds, Banner Desert offers state-of-theart technology in all departments. The hospital has attracted medical personnel with skills covering a wide range of specialties both through Banner Desert as well as in private practice. Banner Desert Medical Center, just minutes away from Friendship Village, provides quality health care complementing the services offered by a life care facility such as Friendship Village.
*Special Thanks to Dr. Richard and Louise Brown, residents of FVT, for their assistance drafting this. Dr. Brown was Chief of Staff of Southside Hospital during the planning for the Good Samaritan Desert Hospital. Also, our resident Ellen Gillespie who served for years as surrogate mother to unwanted babies at Cardon Children’s Hospital.
A special thank you to Paul McCleary and The Villager staff at Friendship Village for allowing us to copy and publish this article.
We hope you all enjoy reading this interesting bit of historical information.