Our History of Providing Specialty Care
What is now known as Westchester Medical Center began in 1917 when the U.S. Army took over county buildings to set up an Army Hospital for treating troops affected by the Spanish Influenza epidemic.
Caring for the Critically Ill
After renaming the campus Grasslands Hospital, the county began caring for those suffering from several prevalent diseases of the 1920s and 1930s. Entire buildings were devoted to treating both adult and child patients with tuberculosis, and the center eventually became a center for treating victims of other great medical illnesses such as polio, scarlet fever and diphtheria during the early and mid 20th century.
Staffed largely by volunteer physicians during its early history, Grasslands Hospital was one of the first public institutions to establish a Renal Dialysis Unit and a cardiovascular service, which earned an outstanding reputation that still endures today.
After more than a half century making medical history, Grasslands Hospital was closed in 1977 to make way for its modern cousin, the newly built regional academic medical center known as Westchester Medical Center.
Providing Public Service to Those in Need
In 1998, Westchester Medical Center became an independent institution by breaking away from the county government. Today, in its new format as a public benefit corporation, Westchester Medical Center still maintains its public mission to treat anyone in need of advanced medical care.
We now serve a 5,000-square-mile area that is home to more than 3.6 million people. As the region's Trauma and Tertiary/Quaternary Care Center, we provide the most advanced level of care and medicine to tens of thousands of newborns, infants, children and adults each year. From trauma and burn care, heart, transplant and neurosurgery to the only all-specialty Children's Hospital in the New York metropolitan area, Westchester Medical Center is now one of the finest medical institutions in the nation.