City: South Lake Tahoe, CA

Category: Health Care

Telephone: (530) 541-3420

Address: 2170 South Avenue

Description: Barton Memorial Hospital is living testimony to what a small community can do when it works together to meet a critical need. Prior to the hospital’s opening in 1963, medical care was provided by a small number of local physicians. The nearest hospitals in Reno and Carson City, Nevada, were nearly an hour away when the roads were clear and frequently were all but unreachable during periods of heavy snow. Realizing the necessity of having more accessible medical care, local residents worked to raise funds for the original 38-bed medical facility. Celebrities who regularly performed in the area even joined the effort, with the profits from Elvis Presley’s benefit concert used to build the intensive care unit. Since those first frantic fund-raising days, Barton Memorial has expanded to an 81-bed acute-care facility with a medical staff of more than 100 and a support staff of about 200. The medical complex also includes a Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation Center with 48 beds. Services include 24-hour emergency care with a trauma room, surgery, hospice care, home health, and diagnostics. As part of its commitment to health care and wellness in the community, Barton offers a variety of special events, support groups, and health-related classes. Barton Memorial is an attractive, modern medical facility that is a source of great pride to those living in South Shore Lake Tahoe. It continues to be a not-for-profit hospital that is owned by the community and also affiliated with Carson Valley Medical Center in Gardnerville, Nevada.