When two laborers from New London were injured while digging a ditch on Ocean Avenue in 1912, they came to the doors of a new place called the Joseph Lawrence Free Public Hospital. They were treated and released, becoming the first of millions of patients who have been cared for at what today we call Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. Below is a bit of trivia, from then – and now.
New London is known as the Whaling City because of its history as a whaling port, and it was Sebastian Lawrence whose philanthropy first established the hospital in memory of his father, Joseph Lawrence, a renowned whaling captain.
The hospital later merged with another small hospital in New London, Memorial Hospital, to become Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, or simply L+M.
The original hospital was built for $125,000 (the equivalent of $4.1 million in today’s dollars). The original hospital had 30 rooms. L+M has 280 beds now, and its upgraded ED will have 57 private rooms.
Most patients travel to hospitals by car or ambulance, but some come to L+M via boat. The “Sea Stretcher” is a medical vessel stationed on Fishers Island, NY, and L+M serves the island for all emergencies.
L+M is the only hospital in the region with emergency angioplasty, a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and also its own beach. That’s right, employees can buy a pass and use the L+M beach on Pequot Avenue every summer.
There are 6,960 lighting fixtures throughout the hospital (we know this thanks to a project to replace them with energy-saving LED lightbulbs).
The most popular cafeteria meal at L+M is Taco Tuesday. “It’s the day we always need extra staff on the line,” reports one Food and Nutrition manager.
The best place to take a break and enjoy nice weather is the Wadsworth Healing Garden, a quiet oasis near the main entrance that includes benches, a water fountain and a variety of blooming flowers and shrubs throughout the growing season.
