The centerpiece of Memorial Hospital’s $318 million expansion was worth the wait.
The Guerry Heart and Vascular Center, bearing the name of the Chattanooga family that donated $4 million, was blessed and dedicated in June 2014. The glass-faced, seven-story building’s debut had been delayed by the Great Recession of 2008, but was revived in 2011.
“It’s an amazing day for Memorial, and it’s an amazing day for cardiac health care in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the entire region,” said Zan Guerry, who helped lead the hospital’s fundraising effort for the expansion.
The Memorial expansion was the single largest hospital project in Chattanooga at the time, and one of the largest construction projects in the city. Hospital officials said the Guerry Center was central to its effort to improve Tennessee’s dubious standing — only five states had more deaths due to heart disease. Officials added that Memorial did about 800 open-heart surgeries each year.