History of Parkland

 

The core of the Parkland Health & Hospital System is Parkland Memorial Hospital (Parkland), which was established in 1894 by the city of Dallas to care for the city's indigent residents. Today, Parkland is a political subdivision of the State of Texas.

Parkland serves the entire community and especially the indigent sick, the working poor and special populations with special needs who cannot get the care they need in their own hospital or region. With a tradition of service to the poor, Parkland also cares for middle class and wealthy who understand the value that Parkland brings to the community and chose to come here for their care.

Today, the hospital is ranked among the best hospitals in the U.S., including rankings for the last 15 years in U.S. News & World Report’s annual survey.

Many of Parkland's Centers of Excellence are internationally recognized. They include:

• burn treatment and research,
• epilepsy,
• trauma care,
• kidney/pancreas transplant,
• cardiovascular services,
• diabetes treatment,
• gastroenterology,
• radiology,
• neonatal intensive care
• high-risk pregnancy

Parkland continually ranks as one of the nation’s busiest labor and delivery units, with nearly 16,000 babies delivered annually.

Since it was established in 1962, the regional burn center has treated more burn patients than any other civilian burn center in the world. In 1964, Parkland performed the first kidney transplant in Texas.

Since 1989, Parkland established health care outreach centers in underserved neighborhoods to bring preventive medicine to the poor. Parkland’s Community Oriented Primary Care clinics lessen a serious and chronic problem at the hospital - desperately long waits for service and standing room only, seven days a week. These community health centers and outpatient clinics average nearly a million patient visits per year.