In January 1964, Stevens Memorial Hospital opened on the medical campus in Edmonds where you are currently standing. Raising funds for it and building the hospital was a community-wide effort led by local doctors, women’s groups and business and community leaders. Dr. Olav Magnus Sola and his wife Anne Elizabeth Hauser Sola were leaders in the effort and affectionately known as “Mr. and Mrs. Stevens Hospital.” The hospital was named after Isaac Stevens, the first governor of Washington Territory, who was killed fighting for the Union in the Civil War.
Nationally, the 1960s were a time of great change in America with the Civil Rights movement, the start of the Vietnam War and anti-war protests. During the same period the creation of federal programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid Act in 1965, expanded access to healthcare for millions of Americans. The goal to make healthcare more accessible to everyone is ongoing and continues as Verdant’s mission.