Our Heritage

TidalHealth Nanticoke

In 1945, a group of concerned citizens, including representatives from various Seaford civic organizations, endorsed the idea of building a local hospital as a “living memorial to those who served our country in time of war.” Even though this seemed like a new idea, the seeds of this dream started 10 years before when the Seaford Volunteer Fire Department purchased its first ambulance. Although the ambulance provided the area with quality emergency transportation, it still took 45 minutes to get to the nearest hospital. The First Aid Squad operating the ambulance saw enough deaths on the way to realize how great the need was for a hospital on the county’s west side.

In December 1945, Nanticoke Memorial Hospital was incorporated. In March 1947, the first meeting of the board was held, and by July 1947, the land for the hospital was purchased. Over the next several years, many fundraising efforts were made to build the hospital, with additional challenges resulting from a post-war economy. The original vision of a 99-bed hospital became a vision of a 33-bed hospital and plans were adjusted. In July 1950, building began, using a combination of funds raised and an approved federal grant, allowing the hospital to open debt-free. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held July 4, 1950, with a parade down High Street. On Monday, Jan. 28, 1952, Nanticoke Memorial Hospital opened its doors to the public.

Nanticoke quickly grew to care for additional patients, going through several expansions and building projects over the years. Building projects began with the addition of the Anna M. Brown Wing in 1957 and the J. Leland Fox Wing in 1968. These were followed by the addition of the Richard Tobin Coronary/Intensive Care Unit in 1975 and the addition of a three-story patient tower in 1983. Two additional patient floors were added to the tower in 1989.

Today, TidalHealth Nanticoke includes a 99-bed nationally-recognized community hospital and the TidalHealth Allen Cancer Center. Each year, TidalHealth Nanticoke cares for more than 5,500 patients admitted to the hospital, 35,000 people in the Emergency Department, and provides more than 105,000 outpatient tests and procedures.

TidalHealth Peninsula Regional

In the early 1890s, Dr. George W. Todd was making an increasing number of house calls on a growing population in and around the Salisbury area. With his team of six horses and an open buggy, there were many nights he would return home with his heavy beard soaked by rain or frozen stiff by the cold, and his horses too tired to reach the stable.

Dr. Todd understood the loss of his horse team would be the demise of his business, and medicine couldn’t continue to be practiced as it had for decades. He, a simple country doctor but a man of great vision and leadership, began a campaign to build a regional hospital in his hometown. Dr. Todd enlisted senators, leading businessmen of the era, and a community that contributed lemonade glasses, washbowls, oyster crackers, a tub and cakes.

On Oct. 1, 1897, in a six-bedroom home within shouting distance of where TidalHealth Peninsula Regional now stands, Dr. Todd opened Peninsula General Hospital. Here, his grandson performed the region’s first open-heart procedure in 1974, and his great-grandson started practicing emergency medicine two decades later.

From necessity, and in this case "straight from the horse’s mouth," came one of healthcare’s most influential advancements on the Delmarva Peninsula: a heritage of caring that continues today with the same diligence and pride demonstrated by the founding fathers and mothers so many years before.

The Emergency Services department at TidalHealth McCready Pavilion in Crisfield is part of TidalHealth Peninsula Regional. The Edward W. McCready Hospital was previously at this location. 

The TidalHealth McCready Pavilion is named for Edward McCready, who was killed in a car crash in 1919 along with his daughter and the family’s nurse. His widow, Caroline McCready, made a generous donation for a new hospital, which was completed in 1923.