The nearly 50-year-old photograph of the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Campbell County hospital speaks volumes. City leaders partnering with area physicians to symbolically begin construction and produce one of the area's most important institutions.

Just like the hospital they built... that partnership still stands today.

St. Mary's Health System has joined physicians and city and county leaders to provide high quality health care to Campbell County and surrounding communities — building upon the structure, as well as the critical services it provides.

In the summer of 1956, LaFollette Community Hospital opened with 44 beds, 41 employees and one delivery room. Four years later, a new wing was built adding 32 new beds and an emergency room.

A 50-bed nursing home was built in 1968. The hospital was remodeled in '73 and another 48 beds were added to the nursing home. In '82, the hospital was renamed the LaFollette Medical Center.

At the turn of the century, St. Mary's agreed to lease and operate the hospital — renaming it St. Mary's Medical Center of Campbell County. In just a short period of time, St. Mary's has transformed the physical building — making the single largest investment in the facility in 25 years — and greatly improved the medical service that physicians, nurses and associates deliver every day.