The Healing Touch Comes to Greater Orlando

Looking at Orlando today it’s hard to imagine that the metropolis was once a small community that had more mosquitoes than people.

But that certainly was true in 1908 when an intrepid group of Adventist church leaders came to the town of 3,800 residents with the hope of building the first modern healthcare facility in the region.

With boundless faith and extremely limited funds, they set about to construct a sanitarium that mirrored the one in Battle Creek, Michigan, which promoted health, wellness and exercise at the time. The goal was to serve clients of the Battle Creek facility who wintered in Florida during the cold northern months.

With just $4.93 in the bank (about $115 today), the group set its sights on a farmhouse that had been converted into a facility for treating tuberculosis patients. To raise enough money for the purchase, one of the members of the group, relying on commitment and prayer, sold his house. And so it was that the Adventist group bought the farmhouse property for $9,000.

In October of that year, the Florida Sanitarium and Benevolent Association officially opened its doors to the residents of Orlando. One doctor and a couple of employees took care of the patients – all four of them.

Today, Florida Hospital Orlando is the largest and most advanced hospital in the region, treating more than 86,000 patients annually on an inpatient and outpatient basis. Part of the hospital still occupies the original farmhouse land.

Though the hospital has grown tremendously over the years, its mission remains unchanged: healing the whole person – emotionally, physically and spiritually.