Diagnostic Celebrates 35th Anniversary

Diagnostic Center Hospital opened its doors 35 years ago on a piece of real estate with a choice location – the intersection of dreams.

One of the dreams belonged to Dr. W. T. (Tom) Arnold, a young internist from deep East Texas. And the other dream belonged to a Dr. Ernest William Bertner, who had long dreamed of a great medical center in Houston.

It was the alchemy of the two dreamers that led, eventually, to the opening of a hospital that would eventually become part of a world-renowned medical center. Dr. Arnold, one of the dreamers, is retired now, but he works out of an office in the Diagnostic Clinic tower. He is happy, and proud, to recount the history of how the hospital came about.

Dr. Bertner was chief of staff of Hermann Hospital, where Dr. Arnold was a resident. Dr. Bertner’s vision of a medical center stuck with young Dr. Arnold as he served a stint in the Army during World War II and trained in Boston.

"Bertner was a dynamo, he was going to build this medical center," Dr. Arnold says. "Houston was a small town in the mid to late 1940s; in 1944 Fannin Street was still a dirt road. So for most people that idea was pretty far-fetched."

Dr. Bertner inspired Dr. Arnold to return to Houston in 1950. Dr. Arnold had a dream of his own – to start a clinic, modeled after the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, that combined the skills of internal medicine physicians under one roof to serve patients. He grafted that dream onto Dr. Bertner’s and envisioned a clinic that would one day become a part of this mighty medical center.

In 1957, Dr. Arnold opened the Diagnostic Clinic with a core of nine physicians. Almost as soon as he cut the ribbon on the building, he was dreaming of a single-specialty hospital for his Clinic’s patients and physicians.

"When the Clinic took off, I started talking about the hospital," Dr. Arnold says. "As the Clinic grew, it was pretty evident that we were sending more patients over to the Medical Center hospitals than they could handle. Our hospital would be built, staffed and directed by physicians to be a place for patients to receive diagnostic procedures and nonsurgical treatment."

Ground was broken for the planned hospital in February 1965 on land adjacent to Diagnostic Clinic. Dr. Arnold still has the original artist’s watercolor rendering of the facility hanging on the wall of his office, though it’s now a bit faded.

The building was to be a six-story, 150-bed facility built for less than $2 million.

"We knew even before it opened that we’d have to expand, so we planned the building so that five or six more stories could be added to double the capacity," Dr. Arnold says.

Diagnostic Center Hospital opened on June 12, 1966.

Dr. Arnold recalls that the hospital was an immediate success – "We were never in the red," he claims – and eventually the hospital’s success attracted the attention of national hospital chains like the Hospital Corporation of America.

"It was one of the realities of the time, and of the growing demand for health care: the best, most up-to-date equipment and facilities began to cost more and more. Our physicians were older, too, and merging with a big system meant we’d have more money to update our equipment and replenish our staff," Dr. Arnold says.

Diagnostic merged with HCA in 1968. A year later, the hospital added on five additional floors to expand into a 300-bed facility.

All the while, Dr. Arnold still yearned for his hospital to be an official part of the Texas Medical Center. Most of his medical staff at the Clinic was also on staff at other hospitals, primarily Methodist. He talked for years with officials at other TMC institutions about possibly one of them merging with Diagnostic.

Finally, in 1993, The Methodist Hospital System purchased Diagnostic Center Hospital, two medical office buildings and its parking facilities (but not Diagnostic Clinic), making it the third hospital in the Methodist network.

"It was the final part of a wonderful dream, we finally became part of the Texas Medical Center," says Dr. Arnold. "Methodist is one of the most respected hospital names in the world, and to be part of Methodist, and the Texas Medical Center, is more than I ever imagined."

Now Methodist Diagnostic Hospital offers acute care and inpatient and outpatient surgeries in addition to its full range of internal medicine services. The hospital also has a level IV emergency room, a Sleep Disorders Center and a Center for Joint Replacement, as well as home health care services and a skilled nursing unit.

Dr. Arnold’s dream has expanded over the years. He acknowledges that it built not only a clinic and a hospital, but played a part in the growth of the world’s largest medical center.

He never lost the dream, he says.

"When times got tough, I just repeated my motto: ‘Have no fear, the Texas Medical Center is here.’"

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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