It was one year ago that St. Elizabeth Hospital first opened its doors for public use on Feb. 2, 2011, and it sure feels like time flew by.

We at Patch had just gotten our feet wet in learning about the Enumclaw community and were excited to cover such a monumental occasion as the grand opening of a facility that has come to represent so much more than a simple medical hospital (See our coverage of the VIP reception, the public open house and the grand opening).

As we'd reported shortly after the ice storm in January, St. Elizabeth was one of the few places in town that still had power and served as a safe haven for folks looking for a warm place to go and hot food to eat (Read the story).

In its first year, the hospital wasn't without its share of challenges, including averting a nurses strike as well as coming to terms with the retirement announcement of long-time healthcare leader and hospital President Dennis Popp.

The state-of-the-art technology that went behind the construction and operations of the hospital didn't go unnoticed either as the hospital was lauded as one of the 'most wired' small hospitals in the U.S. and received an environmentally friendly recognition from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The technology and the nature of patient care in the current economy were topics of conversation when the hospital celebrated six months in operation last summer (Read the stories: Part 1|Part 2).

And now six months beyond that, we'd like to wish St. Elizabeth Hospital a happy first birthday with many many more years of quality healthcare to come!