UnityPoint Health – St. Luke's Hospital (Cedar Rapids, Iowa). In 1884, Cedar Rapids was one of the fastest-growing cities in Iowa, but it lacked a hospital. That May, community members laid down the cornerstone of St. Luke's Hospital, which today is one of the largest hospitals within West Des Moines, Iowa-based UnityPoint Health.
The original hospital, which had 15 beds, was founded after a reverend made a plea to the community to create "a real hospital, so that citizens and strangers alike can be cared for." Today, St. Luke's has 532 licensed beds, tallies more than 53,000 emergency room visits each year and has more than 3,500 employees.
St. Luke's has received accolades, awards and high honors from several organizations, including Truven Health Analytics, Healthgrades and Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The hospital's rehabilitation program was also the first in Iowa to receive inpatient rehab stroke accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
Many medical firsts and breakthroughs have occurred at St. Luke's during its 130-year history: Gas anesthesia used for major surgery for the first time in Iowa in 1912; first Caesarean section delivery in Cedar Rapids in 1914; first cardiac rehab facility in eastern Iowa; and first hospital in the state to have private neonatal intensive care rooms in 2001.
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