Dolly McNulty, a traveling nurse, was on a World War I troop train heading west from New York in 1918 when she read about the flu epidemic in Tulsa. Her curiosity led her to stop in town and attend a meeting to address the outbreak. This decision would alter the course of her life and leave a legacy that is still alive today.
McNulty decided to stay in Tulsa. She bought Sunnyside Hospital, at 521 N. Boulder Ave., that same year. She added a training school for nurses and re-named it Morningside Hospital and School of Nursing.
She operated the combined school and hospital for nine years before she realized Tulsa needed something larger. In 1927, with financial help from her husband, she built a new 72-bed Morningside Hospital at 12th Street and Utica Avenue. What we now call Hillcrest Medical Center was born.
Morningside Hospital was renamed Hillcrest Memorial in 1940, before becoming Hillcrest Medical Center in 1952. Since then, HMC has been home to countless landscape-shifting medical advancements.
HMC surgeons performed the first closed-heart surgery in the city in 1957, and the first open-heart surgery in 1962. HMC introduced the city's first women's health program, revolutionized childbirth with the first family-centered approach, and established the first heart catheterization lab. Statewide, it led the way with the first burn treatment center, the first infertility treatment center, and the first hospital-operated helicopter ambulance service.
Some of the most important advancements have been made in just the last 15 years at the Oklahoma Heart Institute at HMC. Through research and clinical trials, the OHI team has become the first in Tulsa or the first in Oklahoma to perform at least 27 cardiac procedures. OHI is currently participating in 36 active research trials with plans to join more in the future. Dolly's passion for helping people heal is still alive and well today.