Tomball Mayor Gretchen Fagan delivers a mayoral proclamation to Tomball Regional Medical Center CEO Tom Jackson in celebration of TRMC's 40th anniversary on July 27.[/caption]

Tomball Regional Medical Center celebrated its 40th anniversary July 27 with a proclamation from Tomball Mayor Gretchen Fagan and special remarks from TRMC CEO Tom Jackson, long-time TRMC physician Dr. George Morillo, and local, state and national officials.

“It’s a proud achievement,” Jackson said. “It’s an achievement that grew many years before that.”

The medical center opened in July 1976 with 70 beds. TRMC now features more than 300 beds and serves more than 36,000 patients each year, Jackson said. However, he said TRMC’s founding actually dates back much further than 40 years.

Tomball Regional Medical Center staff, community leaders and state officials attend the 40th anniversary celebration of TRMC on July 27 in the lobby.[/caption]

Sixty-eight years ago, TRMC opened as the nonprofit Tomball Hospital at the corner of Hospital and Carrell streets. The hospital was built in 1948 with funds donated by the Humble Oil Company, 365 community members, and other oil companies, Jackson said. However, doctors did not stay in Tomball long so the hospital struggled to remain open.

“The hospital had quite a few difficulties the first few years. Doctors came and they went,” Jackson said. “[The community] found it almost impossible to keep the hospital open.”

Dr. Norman Graham came to Tomball in 1951 to serve as the first manager and chief of staff of the hospital. Graham, 92, attended the anniversary celebration Wednesday.

“Why did you stay? ‘Because I wanted to make a difference,’” Jackson said, quoting an earlier conversation he had with Graham. “When Norman Graham came here, things started to change.”

Four decades of service

Jackson said the staff of TRMC is to thank for its more than four decades of service to the community.

“Hospitals are defined by the doctors that take an interest in them,” he said. “A few people came here many years ago, and they decided to stay and they decided to make a difference and they gave up a lot. They said no to joint ventures, they said no to lucrative offers, they said no to cashing out their practices. They said, ‘I want to make a difference in Tomball.’”

Jackson said Tomball’s hospital was one of the first to be located in northwest Houston—and it continues to be first in the Greater Houston area for accomplishing various medical procedures.

“Tomball Regional Medical Center was one of the first hospitals to put its flag in northwest Houston,” he said. “It’s always been a hospital that looked forward, not backward.”

Jackson said this year, TRMC became the first hospital in Houston to perform robotic surgery through a patient’s belly button. He said 11 new doctors will soon join the medical center as TRMC continues to strive to better serve the community.

“We want you to know this is a hospital that’s going to be here forever, and it’s a hospital where many of us are spending thousands of hours making this the best hospital it can be,” Jackson said. “There are a lot of people here today that are going to make the next 40 years as good as the last 40 years.”