Our History of Excellence and Compassion

140 years of history

California Pacific Medical Center has 140 years of history in healing the sick … alleviating pain … saving lives … bringing babies into the world … comforting the dying … and discovering medical breakthroughs. It has seen our community through major earthquakes, epidemics and plagues. Through it all, CPMC has served with excellence and compassion.

Our doctors, nurses and staff could not have done this alone. It was our community who has faithfully supported our work by contributing their time, talent and wealth.

For example, in the early days, donors gave clothing, coal, eggs, flowers, toys and turkeys at Thanksgiving – even whiskey.

In 1962, it was the volunteers who made the eradication of polio from our community possible. These volunteers assisted our doctors and nurses in vaccinating two million Bay Area residents against polio on a single Sunday.

Click here to view CPMC's historical timeline.

The spirit of giving and caring lives on

Today, our community continues its support through California Pacific Medical Center Foundation. Since the merger of Children’s Hospital and Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center in 1991, donors have contributed over $284 million in gifts. Annually, volunteers contribute over 100,000 hours of compassionate care and service.

Your faithful support means that…

• California Pacific is the safest place in California to have a baby.
• Patients are treated with the best and latest medical technology.
• The terminally ill can live in comfort and dignity.
• Patients and their families can learn about prevention, disease symptoms, treatment and care giving.
• Better healing and life-saving secrets can be unlocked through research.

As you can see, our community has always been a vital part of California Pacific’s history of excellence and compassion. Every one of your donor dollars has counted. Every hour you have served has meant so much.

Because life is precious, we encourage giving to life and a lifetime of giving.