Mayo Clinic celebrates 20 years in the Valley with multiple events

Thursday, June 21, 2007

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Climate - balmy, sunny, dry climate in particular - has long been a draw for many Midwesterners who end up lured to the Arizona lifestyle.

Arizona sunsets, as it turns out, were a contributing factor in drawing Mayo Clinic, originally founded on the plains of Minnesota, to the desert oasis of Scottsdale. It all began when Mayo's founders, brothers Will and Charles, discovered the mountains of Tucson and declared the area "a health-giving climate." It was there, in the mid-1900s, that they eventually retired, solidifying Mayo's first formal affinity for the desert. On an equally sunny day in June 1987, for reasons well beyond weather, 47 physicians and 225 support personnel (who proudly accepted the moniker of "pioneers") stood for the ribbon-cutting ceremony that launched what is today Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

June 2007 marks the official 20th anniversary of the medical center that now spans two campuses, comprising a total of more than 400 acres and encompassing alliances with multiple biotech and academic partners in the Valley.

Now, 20 years after that propitious scrape of the ground in the desert in the north Valley - and amid a few vocal skeptics who doubted the staying power of Mayo outside of its Midwest boundaries - Mayo has emerged as a regional, national and global enterprise. Before the doors even opened on June 29, 1987, nearly 1,800 people had already booked appointments, and in that first year, more than 16,000 patients came to the desert to seek Mayo's medical services. By the clinic's fifth anniversary, more than 115,000 patients had registered.

Today, Mayo's reach extends well beyond that first clinic building on the Scottsdale campus (where over time, two research buildings were also built — a collaborative community) and includes further growth on the Phoenix campus to support Mayo's three-pronged mission of patient care, research and education.

By the time Mayo Clinic Hospital opened in the fall of 1998 in Phoenix, the loop 101 corridor was already fueling significant growth in the area. The 20-40 year plan for Mayo Clinic calls for a fully integrated campus in Phoenix, ultimately eliminating the need for patients and staff to travel between two campuses.

"We're celebrating our 20 years in the Valley chronologically, yes, but more than that, we're celebrating our talented people, our clinicians, our investigators, our collaborators and, most importantly, our patients," said Victor F. Trastek, CEO. "That pioneering spirit at the first ribbon-cutting has translated to compassionate, highly skilled care and a sincere commitment to the welfare of our patients."

The 20-year celebration at Mayo will incorporate multiple events during the week beginning June 25, and some inevitable nostalgia is likely to be part of the repartee. Those who were the true pioneers in opening the clinic in 1987, and who contributed to the growth of the Phoenix campus beginning just a decade later, recall some of the humor and travails involved with unveiling the new enterprise:

They recall that the first chairman of Mayo Clinic in Arizona experienced the true flavor of the desert - witnessing the soles of his tennis shoes literally melt on hot asphalt. Before completion of the clinic, word was that a high level executive found temporary offices in a motel room on the clinic campus; yet another colleague discovered her "office" under the stairwell, in a converted janitor's closet.

In 1996, a grazing Brahma bull greeted planners as they eyed the trust land that now houses Mayo Clinic Hospital in northeast Phoenix - and an obligatory early morning task as the hospital was undergoing construction was the removal of various reptilian creatures from the building site. Now the site features the 210-bed hospital (soon to be 242 beds, thanks to an expansion), a 173,000 square-foot outpatient specialty clinic, a Hospice of the Valley facility and will soon be home to a transplant "village" to house transplant patients and their families. Also planned are a hotel and a child care center for Mayo Clinic staff.

Celebratory events for Mayo employees and invited guests beginning Monday, June 25, include an event to honor the Mayo employees who have been with the organization since the opening in 1987, a quilt unveiling, a birthday cake party and "An Evening with Ted Koppel," veteran broadcast journalist. Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross will attend and present a proclamation honoring Mayo's 20-year history in Arizona.

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 208-licensed bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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