This week in history: Boca Raton Community Hospital opens

The 1962 poisoning deaths of two Boca Raton children — Debra Ann Drummond, 9, and her brother James Randall Drummond, 3, who died en route to Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach — spurred the community to raise money for its own hospital. One of every three city residents is said to have contributed to the Debbie-Rand Foundation that funded the hospital. The hospital opened on July 15, 1967.

This photo ran in the Palm Beach Post on the July 18, 1968, with the caption: “Boca Raton Community Hospital celebrated its first birthday Wednesday with the traditional cake, handshaking formalities and the untraditional lighting of the candle a la finger. The finger belongs to Richard Murray, personnel and development director. Doing the lighting honors is Mrs. Gloria Drummond, first president of the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League. The birthday gathering was held in the hospital visitor’s lounge.” (Palm Beach Post staff file photo)

Tags: hospitals, This Week in History