Page 5 - Calvert Health Magazine

celebrating

well-baby checks, vaccinated preschoolers County’s Growth Spurs Expansion
and inoculated farmers and laborers
for small pox and tuberculosis. When From those humble beginnings, Calvert Health Medical Center has
she retired, her position ended. No
one ever took her place, according to transformed into Southern Maryland’s premier healthcare provider. Today,
“Inspiring African American Women of the health system includes the medical center, an employed physician
Calvert County,” by the Calvert County network, imaging, home health services and urgent care facilities
Public Library. throughout the county; and is the county’s largest private employer with
With so few doctors, Marsellas, more than 1,200 employees.
who started in 1942, did everything from
dressings to delivering babies to pulling the In the 1920s, Calvert was unusually rural and poor. Transportation was a problem
rope for the dumbwaiter to bring meals up with most dirt roads impassable. There was one bus that traveled from Solomons to
from the basement. “I loved nursing,” she Baltimore and mail was delivered on horseback. In 1926, wings were added to each
said. “I loved every bit of it. We worked until side of the original hospital structure. A new chapter began in 1948, when the board
things were finished. It might be midnight.” began planning for a new building. The following year, 65 acres were purchased and a
She played a key role because of her new, “modern” 29-bed facility opened in 1953. Eleven years later, it was at 97 percent
versatility, according to former state Senator capacity and the board was looking for ways to finance the three-story, 111-bed
Bernie Fowler, Sr., who worked with her hospital that would break ground in 1976.
from 1956-1967. “She was very capable and A turning point came in 1975, with the opening of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear
concerned about her patients. I don’t think Power Plant, replacing tobacco as the economic engine of the county and ushering
anyone could exceed the attention she gave. in a population boom that continued for several decades. “BG&E changed a lot down
She did it because it was her life and she
loved doing it.” here,” said former county commissioner Mary Krug, who served on the hospital’s
Fowler said the nurses were often called board of directors for 22 years. “All of a sudden, the county could pave its rural roads,
on to handle emergencies until the doctor on- improve the schools and widen Route 4.”
call could arrive. “I remember one time there Former Calvert Memorial Hospital President and CEO Jim Xinis said, “The
was a boat explosion in Solomons and we got county’s rapid population growth had a dramatic impact on the hospital. For a number
11 patients and the ER had three beds,” said of years, Calvert was the fastest growing jurisdiction in the state by percentage and
Sally Showalter, who was a nurse at the we were very aggressive in meeting that demand. It seemed like we were breaking
hospital from 1974-1984. “You managed and ground on something every six months.”
everybody worked together as a team and The wave of construction included
stayed until the job was done.” additional locations in Dunkirk, Solomons
Showalter said it wasn’t unusual and Twin Beaches; three on-campus
for her to be the only nurse on duty medical office buildings and new
on some evening shifts. “The nursing surgery, family birth and wellness
assistants were our eyes and ears,” she centers that were followed by a much-
said. “They bathed and fed the patients, expanded emergency department, a
answered their call lights, and kept us critical care unit and a concourse
up to date when we could not be in their devoted to outpatient services.
room. When they expressed a concern, I
listened. I knew they had the experience
and knowledge to know when something
wasn’t right and I trusted their judgment.”

Top: Calvert County Commissioner Bernie
Fowler, Sr. looks at plans for the current
hospital with Anna Laura Weems (sister of
Dr. George Weems) and Mary Briscoe. Also
pictured are brothers Bobby and Donnie Hall.
File Photo

Right: When complete, the $51-million,
three-story project will enable CalvertHealth
Medical Center to convert to private patient
rooms. File Photo

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