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History of Truman Medical Centers

Click here to view the documentary From Separate To Equal: The Creation of Truman Medical Center. www.FromSeparateToEqual.org

Truman Medical Center (TMC) Hospital Hill was dedicated four decades ago, but its roots go back more than a century.

Its forerunner was General Hospital, Kansas City's first hospital, built in 1870 then rebuilt in the 1920s into two racially segregated facilities. The hospitals joined together in 1957, forming a facility that later became the teaching hospital for the new University of Missouri-Kansas City Medical School, and a major component in Hospital Hill, a master plan designed by community leaders for the consolidation and improvement of hospitals in the Kansas City area.

The new medical school and connected hospital were dedicated in 1976. Since then, TMC Hospital Hill has become Kansas City's only downtown hospital, providing an array of acute care and outpatient services. In addition to Emergency Medicine and Trauma, TMC Hospital Hill is also noted for Asthma, Bariatrics, Cardiology, Diabetes, GI Services, Obstetrics, Ophthalmology, Weight Management and Women's Health.

The roots of TMC Lakewood go back even further than those of TMC Hospital Hill — to the mid 1800's, when Jackson County purchased a large farm for the purpose of caring for those who could no longer care for themselves.  But it was Harry S Truman who set the ball rolling on a path that would eventually lead to today's two-hospital system.

In 1928, Truman, then the presiding judge of the Jackson County Court, campaigned for and saw passage of a bond issue that led to construction of the Rural Jackson County Emergency Hospital on the grounds of the farm.  Over time, the property expanded to more than 300 acres and became a modern, full-service community hospital.

In the 1970s, TMC and UMKC School of Medicine were established on Hospital Hill and joined with the old county hospital at Lakewood.  In 2003, TMC Lakewood was completely redesigned and enlarged to its current state-of-the-art condition.

Long-term care, primary care and family medicine form the cornerstone of services at TMC Lakewood, located in what is now the fastest growing area in metro Kansas City.  With two family medicine offices — including one in a non-teaching environment — more than 35,000 people receive their primary care at TMC Lakewood each year.  Additional specialty services offered at TMC Lakewood include Diabetes, Rehabilitation Services, Geriatrics, GI Services, Obstetrics, Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine and Women's Health.