75 years later, Tipton Hospital’s first Emergency department patient still calls the community home

When 10-year-old Stephen Collins arrived at Tipton County Memorial Hospital in 1950 with a finger injury, he became the hospital’s very first outpatient.

Hospital administrator Harry L. Gable marked the occasion with a letter to young Collins, writing: “It was felt by all concerned that in the years to come and you [attain] your status as a man in the community that this letter might become a source of pride with you.”

75 years later, that prediction has proven true. Now 85, Collins still lives in Tipton County and cherishes the hospital that continues to care for him today.

Although he was just a child at the time, Collins remembers how significant it felt to have a hospital in the community.

“That was a big thing to have. It made Tipton a solid place to be, you know, when they had their own hospital,” Collins says. “Even as a kid, I remember people talking about that—that that was what meant we were in the big times. You know, we were a real city.”

His connection to Tipton Hospital didn’t end with that childhood visit. A decade later, his father Floyd was appointed to the hospital’s board of trustees, reflecting a community-wide effort to support and sustain the hospital as a vital local resource.

That same spirit of civic pride and service carried through Collins’ own life. After graduating from Tipton High School, he earned a degree in business administration from Indiana University. He married his late wife Lynn and served in the U.S. Army at Fort Lee, Va., and Fort Bragg, N.C. Eventually, he returned home to Tipton, joined the Army Reserve and worked for Pioneer Seeds for 36 years before retiring.

He raised his family in Tipton, with all three of his children born at Tipton Hospital. His daughter later became a nurse there, continuing the family’s multi-generational bond with the hospital.

Over the years, Collins was often treated by physicians who were also close friends, making the care even more personal. And today, even as he splits his time between Indiana and Florida, he still prefers to return to Tipton for his medical care.

“We wouldn’t even think of going someplace else,” Collins says.