Sunnydale Memorial

Sunnydale Memorial, or Sunnydale General Hospital, was the local hospital in Sunnydale.

History

In 1998, Buffy Summers was rushed to hospital after nearly dying in a fight with Angelus who had the upper hand as she developed a stress induced fever which she was treated for at Memorial. At this time, the hospital was used as a feeding ground for the demon Der Kindestod who fed on sick children. Because he could be only seen by those who were feverish, Buffy, after recovering, forced herself into becoming sick by drinking a diluted vial of a disease and then killed the demon in the basement.^[1]

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Willow, Oz and Cordelia preforming the Ritual of Restoration at her ward

Sometime later in the year, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris were treated after an unsuccessful attempt at the Ritual of Restoration when a group of Angelus' lackeys attacked them, resulting in Xander's arm breaking while fighting before he was knocked unconscious along with Willow who was toppled by a bookcase when she tried to escape. Xander shortly recovered with his broken arm casted while Willow eventually regained consciousness and preformed the ritual in her hospital bed with the help of Cordelia Chase and Oz.^[2] Because evil energy from Ovu Mobani mask, deceased patients into urgency become wild zombies, attacking the staff before going to Revello Drive. When the majority of Sunnydale's adult population became teenagers due to mystical band candy, the Mayor's vampire acolytes used this opportunity to kidnap several newborn babies from maternity ward to use as an offering to the demon Lurconis.^[3] Rupert Giles was treated when he was attacked by Gwendolyn Post. Cordelia was treated months later when she was impaled by a metal rebar after discovering Xander and Willow's affair. Xander visited her at hospital with a bouquet of flowers only to be rejected by Cordelia who was, at the time, weak and barely conscious.^[4]

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The Mayor smothering Buffy

In 1999, both Buffy and Faith were rushed to the hospital unconscious, the former for major blood loss (to cure Angel from the Killer of the Dead) and the latter for a near-fatal stab wound in her kidneys after fighting with Buffy. The Mayor, angry for what Buffy did to Faith, attempted to kill her while she was helpless in bed by covering her mouth and nostrils, blocking her airway. He continued this even when an orderly intervened until Angel threw him to the other side of the room. Buffy manages to recover hours after while Faith entered a long coma.^[5]

Months after, Faith recovered from her coma after a series of dreams. She encountered a visitor where she learned of the Mayor's death before beating her and stealing her clothes.^[6]

Between 2000 to 2001, Joyce Summers admitted herself to the hospital numerous times because of a brain tumor.^[7] During those events, a Lei-Ach Demon thinking to eat intern Ben Wilkinson, was captured and recruited by the hell-goddess Glorificus for to kill the Slayer. Later, a queller demon was summoned by Ben to rid the amount of mentally ill patients caused by Glorificus - one of which was Joyce, though she was saved when it was killed by Buffy.^[8]

Weeks before that, the vampire Spike kidnapped Dr. Overheiser and took him from Memorial to UC Sunnydale.^[9]

After Joyce's recovery, Dawn Summers, having learned of her status as the Key, ran away and encountered Ben, who made her hot chocolate at the locker room where they talked. During the conversation, Dawn revealed that she's the Key just before Ben turns into Glory, who then kills a guard and takes Dawn to an x-ray room where she questions her. The Scooby Gang then arrived to the rescue, but their efforts weren't enough for Glory's power. Luckily, Willow Rosenberg teleported Glory away before she could kill anyone.^[10]

Joyce, unfortunately died from an unexpected aneurysm and when meeting at the hospital, Buffy saved Dawn from a newly risen vampire in the autopsy room where Joyce's body was in.^[11] Weeks later, Tara was taken to the hospital after her encounter with Glory in which she had her hand crushed and her sanity taken; this pushed Willow into entering an unmatched fight with Glory.^[12] After Glory found out Dawn was the Key and captured her, every single insane victim of hers broke out of their confinement from their hospital beds and collectively reached the site of Glory's victory.^[13]

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Dark Willow, having saved Buffy, sets out to hunt Warren

In 2002, Buffy was taken to the hospital a third time after Warren Mears shot her in her backyard. The paramedics had trouble operating on her until Willow, consumed by dark magic, made them leave and telekinetically removed the bullet from Buffy's body. She then recovered instantly.

In 2003, a large number of potential slayers where taken to Sunnydale Memorial after the fight at the Vineyard where the remaining potentials were treated for their injures. Xander also was taken in after Caleb gouged out his left eye.^[14]. When the hospital was deserted, Anya Jenkins and Andrew Wells recuperate medical stock for to cure the Potential Slayers who were hurt by the explosion of a bomb, which had been put there by Caleb.^[15] The hospital was destroyed along with the entire town after the battle against the First Evil.^[16]

Staff

Dr Stanley Backer
Dr Wilkinson
Don
Dr Powell
Dr Gold
Unnamed Nurse (undercover)
Ben Wilkinson
Dr Overheiser
Dr Isaacs
Dr Aaron Kriegel
Nurse Lambkin
Dr McCarthy
Harrison
Unidentified paramedic

Patients

Joyce Summers (blood loss of vampire bite and brain tumor)
Billy Palmer (coma because of beating injuries)
Laura Egler (beating injuries)
Ryan (fever)
Buffy Summers (first time because of fever, second because of major blood loss and third because of gunshot)
Willow Rosenberg (head trauma)
Cordelia Chase (rebar through abdomin)
Faith Lehane (major blood loss and coma)
Anya Jenkins (broken arm)
Glory's victims (insanity)
Tara Maclay (insanity and broken hand)
Dawn Summers (broken arm)
Shannon, Rona and various potential slayers (stabbing and various other injuries)
Xander Harris (first because broken arm and second because of damage to eye)

Appearances

Behind the Scenes

The real building was the now closed Linda Vista Community Hospital which is used in several film and TV productions.
A hospital was seen in episodes "Angel" and "Nightmares" in the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, its interior and mostly, its exterior, looked too different to be Memorial.
In the episode "Killed by Death", a sign saying "Sunnydale General" is shown outside of the building and in "Out of My Mind", Graham Miller refers to Memorial as the same, however, in "Shadow", Buffy refers to the hospital where her mother is being treated as "Sunnydale Memorial", in "Forever" and exterior sign can be seen with the words "Sunnydale Memorial" on it and in "Villains", a medic calls for the same name. These couldn't be different hospitals as they shared the same establishing shot. It's likely, possibly due to Sunnydale's high mortality rate, that it was renamed, while in the case of Graham, it was just a goof.

References

[1] "Killed by Death"

[2] "Becoming, Part Two"

[3] "Band Candy"

[4] "Lovers Walk"

[5] "Graduation Day, Part Two"

[6] "This Year's Girl"

[7] "Shadow"

[8] "Listening to Fear"

[9] "Out of My Mind"

[10] "Blood Ties"

[11] "The Body"

[12] "Tough Love"

[13] "The Gift"

[14] "Dirty Girls"

[15] "End of Days"

[16] "Chosen"

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