Nov. 5, 1964: A team led by Dr. Paul Peters performs the first successful kidney transplant in Texas, transplanting a new kidney into 10-year-old Mary Freeman from her identical twin, Nancy.
1966: The surgery and anesthesiology staffs at Parkland and UT Southwestern publish the first medical text on trauma.
1968: Parkland opens the fourth Surgical Trauma Unit in the United States.
1968: Parkland opens its first “premature nursery.”
1969: Parkland opens a four-bed Cardiopulmonary Intensive Care Unit.
1971: Parkland opens the first High Risk Maternity Unit in the nation, the first Pediatric Burn Unit in North Texas and a new acute stroke unit.
1972: Parkland opens a new Surgical Intensive Care Unit and a new adult Burn Intensive Care Unit.
1973: Parkland begins using nuclear medicine imaging for heart attack victims. Parkland opens the first Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Dallas. Parkland opens the first Neurology/Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit in Dallas.
1973: UT Southwestern establishes the first and largest clinically oriented skin bank in the nation to provide grafts for burn patients.
Aug. 15, 1973: Parkland opens its new Emergency Room at 6 a.m., with no service interruption.
1973: Parkland, the medical school and Dallas police begin providing free, 24-hour emergency medical care for rape victims. The service offers women prompt, well-documented medical exams that stand up in court as evidence.
1973: The Dallas Fire Department's Emergency Medical Services, a centralized system coordinating Dallas ambulances and emergency vehicles, begins operations with medical control at Parkland. The system dramatically improved survival rates from serious trauma and life-threatening emergencies.
January 1974: The old hospital at Maple and Oak Lawn avenues and its 143 beds are closed, with all services transferred to Parkland.
1974: Pioneering studies are performed on heart patients to show how damaged hearts function.
1977: Dr. Charles Mullins becomes liaison to coordinate patient care and teaching programs between Parkland and the medical school.
1978: A patient care committee is formed to review Medicare and patient service studies and to look at ways to ensure Parkland's long-term viability.
1979: Parkland's diabetic patients became the first in North Texas to use insulin infusion pumps.
November 1979: The Board of Managers, under the leadership of Ralph Rogers, asks County Commissioners to call an $80 million bond election to build the north tower and a new outpatient clinic, and to otherwise modernize the hospital's aging facility. Voters approve the package in 1980 and construction begins in 1981.
Jan. 1, 1982: Dr. Ron Anderson is named chief executive officer.
1982: The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit enlarges to 85 bassinets.
1983: Parkland is certified as the first Level One Trauma Center in Texas.
1983: Parkland is the first hospital in the Southwest to clinically use nuclear magnetic resonance imaging by evaluating a patient with kidney failure.
1984: Parkland opens the first Pediatric Trauma Center in the United States planned and designed specifically for treating seriously injured children.
1984: Parkland opens the Epilepsy Treatment Center as one of a handful of places in the country to do depth electrode studies.
1984: The North Texas Poison Center begins a 24-hour hotline staffed by registered nurse specialists.
1985: Parkland plays a leading role, with state lawmakers Jesse Oliver and Ray Farabee and Farabee's wife, Helen, in passing legislation to ban “patient dumping,” the practice of transferring medically-unstable patients because of inability to pay. The document became a model for national legislation signed into law April 7, 1986, by President Reagan.
Aug. 2, 1985: Parkland treats 21 patients from the crash of Delta Flight 191.
Dec. 10, 1985: UT Southwestern's Drs. Joseph L. Goldstein and Michael S. Brown receive the Nobel Prize for landmark research into cholesterol metabolism.
1986: Parkland is the first hospital in North Texas to establish an Arrhythmia Management Center for heart patients.
1986: Parkland establishes a photopheresis program for treatment of T-cell lymphomas — a type of skin cancer.
1986: Parkland opens a chronic dialysis center for patient care, teaching and research.
1988: Parkland opens an Acute Stroke Research Unit.
1988: Parkland formally institutes a Trauma Department to coordinate trauma care from the accident scene through rehabilitation.
1989: Parkland begins the Community Oriented Primary Care Program (COPC), the first neighborhood clinic is constructed in South Oak Cliff.
1991: Magnetic resonance imaging building opens.
1993: Methodist Hospitals of Dallas gives Parkland a $10 million gift — Methodist Hospital in Pleasant Grove; facilities become part of COPC network.
