BENTON, Ark. (June 10, 2025) –  In honor of its 70th anniversary, Saline Health System is hosting a community celebration in the parking lot in front of the medical office buildings at 1 Medical Park Drive in Benton from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 28.

The celebration will include inflatable games, a petting zoo, vendors, food trucks, LED performers from Arkansas Circus Arts and more. Admission, including the games and petting zoo, is free, but the vendors and food trucks will have items available for purchase.

“As we celebrate the hospital’s anniversary, we wanted to make sure to recognize the one thing that makes Saline Memorial Hospital so special, and that is our relationship with this community,” CEO Char Boulch said. “Our hospital was started based on an urgent need for medical care in Saline County, and 70 years later, everything we do still centers around our mission: making our communities healthier.”

Saline Health System is also celebrating the anniversary with open houses at all the clinics within the Saline Clinics network during regular business hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 26. The theme for the open house is 70 Years of Caring, and each clinic will be decorated to reflect the pop culture trends of the past seven decades and beyond.

The participating clinics include Saline Pediatric Associates, Saline Primary Care, Saline Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, Bryant Medical Clinic, Saline Surgery and Weight Loss Clinic, Saline Cardiology and Saline Women’s Clinic.

“If you are looking for a new provider, whether that is a primary care provider or a specialist, this is the perfect opportunity to come meet our clinic teams in a more relaxed environment,” said Leanna Chamberlain, director of medical group services.

The open houses at the clinics are set exactly 70 years from the day Saline Memorial Hospital opened to the public for the first time in an open house on June 26, 1955. At the time, Frances Davidson, the first administrator/CEO, led a team of 25 employees, including Azy Crabb, a registered nurse in the hospital’s surgical unit.  Crabb said she remembers the excitement and the sense of camaraderie that developed in the community around the opening of the new hospital.

“It just really opened up the entire community because it was that one big, wonderful thing that was happening in our hometown,” she said. “It gave the community a sense of pride and a sense of service.”

About Saline Memorial Hospital

Saline Health System, a part of LifePoint Health, is made up of Saline Memorial Hospital, a 177-bed acute care facility, and Saline Clinics, a network of primary care and specialty clinics. The hospital is accredited through The Joint Commission for meeting quality and safety standards, the American College of Cardiology as a Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI, the MBSAQIP as a bariatric surgery center, Optum in the Bariatric Centers of Excellence network, CARF as a rehabilitation center and the AASM as a sleep center. Saline Memorial Hospital is also proud to be recognized as a Leapfrog Grade “A” Hospital for its commitment to patient safety and quality care. For more information about Saline Memorial Hospital, please call 501.776.6000 or visit SalineMemorial.org. For more information about LifePoint Health, visit LifePointHealth.net.