137-Year-Old Hospital Turns 25; Covenant HealthCare Celebrates 25th Anniversary
On July 1, 1998, two longstanding Saginaw based hospitals, Saginaw General Hospital (est. 1886) and St. Luke’s Hospital (est. 1887), merged to form Covenant HealthCare. The goal of both organizations, located just across the street from one another, was to offer the community a broader spectrum of services and programs under one shared mission of providing extraordinary care for every generation.
On July 1 a quarter century ago, employees attended the first ever Covenant HealthCare Employee Picnic in the Park event in Bliss Park.
Pictured left to right: William Heath (former President/CEO of Saginaw General Hospital, 1996-1998), Frank Rollwagen (former St. Luke’s Board Chairman), Terry Niederstadt (former St. Luke’s Board Vice Chairman), and Lawrence Sims (former Saginaw General Board Chairman) cut the Covenant birthday cake together, symbolizing the two organizations coming together as one.
Now in its 25th year, Covenant offers a broad spectrum of services ranging from high-risk obstetrics, neonatal and pediatric intensive care, to acute care including a Level II Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center, cardiology, oncology, orthopaedics, robotic surgery, neurosciences, and more.
As a non-profit, the extraordinary care goes beyond outstanding medical services. It’s the compassionate and caring team that makes the difference; their support means patients have someone by their side from diagnosis to recovery. The Covenant Team goes above and beyond for patients every day. And that extraordinary commitment extends to the communities served. Working together for a healthier community to build a better tomorrow for generations to come.
Covenant is also dedicated to training and education and provides this important service at all levels to support community and regional health care needs. Many of our 600 physicians provide clinical education and training to the next generation of doctors. Covenant also serves as a training site for students pursuing other careers in the medical field.
Covenant is Saginaw County's largest healthcare employer with a team of 4,700 employees and more than 350 volunteers who provide thousands of hours of service annually. Every year, more than one million patients are seen at more than 20 inpatient and outpatient Covenant facilities across the region.
Here’s to a quarter century of extraordinary care! Learn more about the history of our legacy hospitals.