History of UPMC Hanover

Milestones in Our History

1926

• Hanover General Hospital (Now UPMC) was founded when philanthropists Harper D. Sheppard and Clinton N. Myers united local residents around the concept of a community hospital. They provided financing for construction of the hospital, as well as funding for the hospital’s first year of operating expenses.

1942

• A new wing was built for the hospital, providing 70 percent more space for services.

1962

• A third wing is added, expanding patient care space by another 60 percent.

1969

• Donated by R.H. Sheppard, the Mobile Coronary Care Unit, a joint operation of Hanover Hospital and the firt department, was the first unit in Pennsylvania and only the seventh in the United States when it was placed into service.

1983

• The hospital nearly doubled in size with a new expansion, which would become the main building of the hospital.

1986

• Pediatric Specialty Therapy is a new program dedicated to addressing the functional needs of children living with a wide range of medical diagnoses through physical therapy. The specialized services would be brought together in one outpatient rehab location in 1993 and include the addition of occupational and speech therapy. Pediatric Specialty Therapy continued to grow and moved into their own space in 2000. The program expanded into a new (and their current) home in 2016.

1995

• Hanover Hospital expanded services to satellite locations throughout Hanover and in surrounding towns with the formation of the Hanover HealthCare PLUS network. Lab, imaging, and rehab services were offered initially, but within a few years, the network started to include primary and specialty care physician practices under the newly formed Hanover Medical Group. Hanover HealthCare PLUS continued to grow for the next 20 years and added the Hanover SurgiCenter, Hanover Apothecary, Medical Fitness Center, Lung & Sleep Center, and Total Wound Care Center, while expanding its footprint with offsite hospital services and medical practices. (Although Hanover HealthCare PLUS would remain the parent corporation, name recognition in the community continued to lie with the Hanover Hospital brand.)

1999

• A new wing was built for an expanded Emergency Department, occupational health services, same day surgery, and gastroenterology.

2000

• The Medical Fitness Center, a unique service that offers medically-supervised aquatic and land-based exercise programs and wellness education in a socially supportive atmosphere, opened.

2009

• The hospital completed a 66,000-square foot vertical expansion above the Emergency Department that included seven new operating rooms.

2010

• The first Express Care walk-in clinic for non-emergent needs was opened in Hanover. Over the next two years, additional clinics would open in New Oxford and Spring Grove.

2013

• Hanover Hospital opened a completely renovated medical/surgical unit and moved to entirely private rooms for all patients.

2015

• The Heart & Vascular Center opens at the hospital, including two new cardiovascular catheterization suites and an expanded recovery unit. The upgraded unit was supported in part by a RACP grant.

2017

• Hanover Hospital becomes part of PinnacleHealth.
• PinnacleHealth becomes part of UPMC health system. Hanover Hospital becomes UPMC Hanover.

2018

• UPMC Hanover completed its first daVinci robotic-assisted surgery. In 2020, the system was upgraded to the daVinci Xi.

2023

• UPMC Hanover opens its Behavioral Health Unit to support those dealing with a mental health crisis.