In 1855, four courageous Grey Nuns from Montreal, Canada, came to Toledo, Ohio, and founded what is now known as Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center. Their mission was to care for the sick and needy and soon expanded to include education of health care professionals, patients, and their families.

In 1974, Dr. Frank Foss, a general surgeon by training, spearheaded a two-phase movement that would propel Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center to the forefront of emergency medical care. He founded the first Emergency Medicine Residency in northwest Ohio (the first in the country had already been established in 1970 in Cincinnati). Dr. Foss became the first director and stayed in this position until his retirement in 1991. In 1977, the program was accredited by the predecessor of the current ACGME/RRC.

The residency program has grown considerably since it began in 1974, with only one faculty member, Dr. Foss, and two residents.  In 2006, we have 26 faculty members at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, and 42 residents.

As of July, 2009, we have graduated some 350 residents who work in 26 states and around the world, including Hawaii, Canada, and Antarctica. We also have a graduate who is working with NASA. During their electives, our residents have provided medical services in Africa, Haiti, Australia, Nepal, Japan, Mexico, Canada, England, and Taiwan. They have also provided services in the national parks of Idaho, the public parks of northern Michigan, and Indian reservations of various states.

In February of 1978, Toledo was completely immobilized by the most severe snowstorm recorded in the area, which precluded all surface transportation. Medical emergencies had to be transported to the Medical Center via Coast Guard helicopters. Dr. Foss was made acutely aware of nature's ability to inhibit and even prevent accessibility of care to those who need it most. Resolving to prevent this from ever happening again, he urged the administration to consider establishing a hospital-based helicopter program. With his confidence and determination, his vision and enthusiasm, he was able to do exactly that in July of 1979. However, Dr. Foss had another vision; he wanted to bring the physician to the patient.  With that, he established one of only a few aeromedical programs in the country that has an Emergency Medicine resident as part of its essential crew.

The Life Flight Program was such a success that in 1993, a second helicopter was added, in a joint venture with The Medical University of Ohio. The second helicopter (Life Flight 2) is staffed with an emergency physician and flight nurse, as is Life Flight 1, although the second helicopter is often covered by the faculty emergency physicians. Both helicopters are Aerospatiale Dauphin N1 helicopters, with cruising speeds of over 160 m.p.h. and serve as excellent platforms for inter-hospital transport and accident scene response. In 1998, in another joint venture, this time with St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, Life Flight added a third helicopter, shifting one of our Dauphins there and adding an Aerospatiale Twinstar aircraft to the complement at St. Vincent's. In October, 1999, we replaced the Twinstar with our third and most modern Dauphin. For 20 years, Life Flight has provided an invaluable service to the community and a truly unique experience for the Emergency Medicine residents. In 2005, Life Flight logged over 2800 missions, and we fully expect to meet or exceed that in 2006.

The Emergency Medicine Program has had 3 directors: Dr. Foss from 1974 to 1990, Dr. Mike Guiness from 1990 to 1992, and Dr. Randy King from 1992 to the present. The program continues to be progressive in its approach to training physicians. Dr. King developed the committee structure that allows resident input into the very structure of the program and its rotations. This has changed the residency at a much quicker pace than previously.

In 1982, St. Vincent was designated as a Level I Trauma Center; and in 1996, it gained special recognition as a Pediatric Trauma center.

In 1996, St. Vincent Medical Center joined the Mercy Health System and is now named the Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center. In 1999, Mercy Children's Hospital opened on our main campus and is another combined effort in cooperation with the Medical University of Toledo-College of Medicine. All in all, it has been, and continues to be an innovative, progressive program in a very insightful institution.