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History

BryanLGH Medical Center enjoys an 80-year tradition of excellence, providing high quality, innovative health care to the city of Lincoln, the state of Nebraska and the surrounding region. It’s a tradition that has been evident through major expansions, state-of-the-art healthcare programs, dramatic developments in technology and equipment and most importantly, through the efforts of our employees and physicians — whose vision and expertise and time and talents continue to lead us into the future.

Two hospitals — Bryan Memorial Hospital and Lincoln General Hospital — opened in Lincoln in the 1920s. Similar in many ways, they laid the foundation for offering high quality patient care, recognized the need for education and made the commitment to bring the latest innovations in medicine to the Lincoln community. Both became well established as outstanding hospitals, bringing many firsts to Lincoln:

  • In cancer, we offered the first dedicated inpatient oncology unit and the first CT scanner.
  • In heart, we performed the first open heart surgery, the first heart pacemaker implantation and we created the first mobile heart team.
As the number of services grew, so too did Lincoln’s reputation as a major medical referral center, with both hospitals extending their influence to the far corners of the state. In 1997, Bryan Memorial Hospital and Lincoln General Hospital joined forces to create BryanLGH Medical Center. The combined resources of these two hospitals — working together as one — would allow Lincoln to extend its leadership role for generations to come.

Today the significance of our coming together is evident. As the largest private employer in Lincoln, BryanLGH employees number more than 3,500, working alongside 500 doctors and 725 volunteers. We are a tertiary medical center — with 529 beds — that can care for patients with the most serious and complicated conditions. We have consolidated services at each location to remove duplication and create more efficient models of delivery of care. And, we continue in our mission to create the very best facilities:

  • Remodeled and renovated from the ground up, BryanLGH West will be the largest financial construction project in Lincoln’s history when completed in 2007.
  • LifePointe, opened in November of 2006, brings an innovative concept in wellness and disease management to the community.
  • A new Childbirth-Pediatric Tower, currently under construction, will house a neonatal intensive care unit and more.

Working together — hospital to hospital, healthcare professional to patient, medical center to community — we are proud to have accomplished so much in our history, with the promise and prospect of so much more to come.

The original site of Bryan Memorial Hospital is located on five acres attached to the former “Fairview” home of Nebraska’s greatest statesmen, Wm. Jennings Bryan. Restored in 1994, the upper two floors house the Wm. Jennings Bryan Institute, which consists of three centers: the Center for Bioethics, the Center for Advancing Nursing Practice and the Center for Quality. On the lower level, the interpretive center and Bryan Museum faithfully depict the family’s life during the early 1900s.



The public may visit Fairview’s Bryan Museum from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday. You may schedule a guided tour by calling 402-481-3032. For directions, see our map below.