Lee Memorial marks centennial Wednesday, changes name

Lee Memorial Health System will mark its 100th year and officially change its name on Wednesday during a invitation-only event at Lee Memorial Hospital.

The health system will now be known as “Lee Health,” a change the organization adopted earlier this year to rebrand itself and better market its non-hospital medical services. Individual hospital names will not change.

The organization’s newly update website is also scheduled to go online that day.

The health system’s elected board of directors approved the change in May but wanted to wait until the centennial to make it official and unveil the new logo.

At the time, the health system explained its thinking this way:

“Like the national health care environment, we are transforming our approach from providing episodic health care to helping people live a healthier life. To reflect these changes, we are proposing ... a new brand name and logo for our health system that retains our history and positions us for the future.”

Technically, Lee Memorial’s centennial is Monday. But they postponed the planned events until Wednesday in honor of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, which runs from Sunday evening until Tuesday evening.

Lee Memorial Hospital opened in 1916 as a 15-bed, wood-framed hospital at at Victoria and Grand avenues. Today, the 12,500-employee Lee Memorial Health System operates four-acute care hospitals and a long list of specialty health centers and clinics.

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