Special Letter to the Star-Telegram 
Six decades of caring for Cowtown
January 06, 2008

As the dust from the ongoing destruction of the Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas settles over Fort Worth, let this also be recorded.
Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas
The hospital, started in the most unlikely of circumstances, was faithful to its mission: As a nonprofit community medical center, it was to provide quality care for all regardless of their ability to pay. It began in 1946 on Summit Avenue in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Roy Fisher in two downstairs rooms. In 1951, it relocated to the 2600 block of Camp Bowie Boulevard and increased the bed capacity to 20 with a staff of 25 to 30 physicians. It soon became clear that more room was needed. And the effort to raise that money took a unique turn.
Physicians fund the Hospital
Paul Saperstein, D.O., a prominent family physician still in practice, remembers that after graduating from Yale and attending the Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine, he heard about a hospital being built in Fort Worth.
When he moved to our city, he had to pay $1,000 to join the staff. Surgeons paid $1,500. Each physician paid 50 cents per day for each of their patients in the hospital. Surgeons paid $5 if the patient was undergoing minor surgery and $10 if the patient was having major surgery. All of the money went into a building fund.
At the time, even though they were licensed by the state of Texas to practice medicine and surgery, osteopathic doctors were not generally admitted to other medical staffs. So they had to move forward on their own.
Amon G. Carter Sr. and Sid Richardson
D.O. Phil Russell was the personal physician of Star-Telegram Publisher Amon G. Carter Sr. Oilman Sid Richardson was also a patient and a close friend of Carter. With these individuals donating land and financial support along with the physicians and building fund, a new hospital opened across the street at the corner of Camp Bowie and Montgomery Street in 1956.
The first wing faced east toward downtown. It was on the highest hill around and provided patients in their rooms with a beautiful view. The smaller hospital across the street remained open because the new hospital was full and it was needed for overflow. But as Fort Worth Osteopathic Hospital continued to grow, the smaller facility eventually was no longer needed. The new hospital grew to 265 licensed beds before it closed in 2004. It had served its mission well.
Service to The Millitary
One of its great contributions to Fort Worth was a close relationship with the military. Even though the reimbursement from the military was less than from other insurers, the hospital believed it had a responsibility to care for all retired and active military personnel. Almost all D.O.s accepted the military insurance, and the hospital took their patients.  In fact, from 1995 to 2000, its chief administrator was retired Air Force Col. Ron Steven, who had previously been the administrator for Carswell Hospital at what was then Carswell Air Force Base.
TCOM is Born
Another great contribution to Fort Worth was the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.  Through the hard work of Drs. George Luibel, Carl Everett and D.D. Beyer, in addition to strong support from the hospital staff and from national, state, and local osteopathic associations, TCOM opened Oct. 1, 1970, on the fifth floor of the Fort Worth hospital.
TCOM and UNT
TCOM developed a relationship with the University of North Texas, and after years of hard work by politicians, D.O.s and UNT officials (and against all odds), it became the first state-supported osteopathic medical school with legislation passed at 1 in the morning of May 15, 1975, under the jurisdiction of the UNT board of regents and its president.
At one time, UNT wanted to move the college to Denton. But with the help of the doctors and city and political leaders (and the wording in Senate Bill 216), Fort Worth became its permanent home.
The hospital became the primary teaching institution for TCOM and trained hundreds of interns and residents. Many of these fine men and women are caring for people throughout the region today.
In time, the college became the University of North Texas Health Science Center.
TCOM is considered an outstanding medical school, and if not for the hospital and its doctors, what we now know as the UNT Health Science Center would not exist.
Indigent Care
In its day, the osteopathic hospital's emergency room gained a reputation as the place to go for short waiting times and good medical care. Following its mission statement, the hospital had an open-door policy. It took care of patients with or without insurance long before it became a federal law of emergency care in the early 1990s. But that had been available to Fort Worth residents for decades.

The hospital had a large, close family of staff and nurses who loved it and its patients and who gave beyond words to make Fort Worth a safer, healthier place.

It emphasized preventive medicine and wellness. One example was its support of the Cowtown Marathon, which promotes walking and running and exercise for good health. Many health fairs at the hospital promote wellness and prevention.

As the osteopathic hospital disappears from our sight, let us not forget the role that it played in making Fort Worth the city it is today.