WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – North Carolina Baptist Hospital, now known as Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, is turning 100 this month, officially marking a century of caring on May 28.
The hospital opened its doors on May 28, 1923, with a simple commitment – to be a place of healing and teaching.
Planning began in 1919, when the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina held its annual meeting and appointed a special commission to seek a location for North Carolina’s first Baptist hospital. The goal was to create a network of hospitals to care for the state’s poorest and neediest patients.
An 11-acre tract of land in Winston-Salem’s Ardmore section was chosen as the site for the hospital. Construction took about two years, and on May 28, 1923, North Carolina Baptist Hospital opened, with five floors and 88 beds. Fred Trivette, who would grow up to be a North Carolina highway patrolman, was the first baby born on the hospital’s opening day.
The convention also intended for education to be a part of the new hospital’s mission and a nursing school was established soon after the hospital opened. Medical education expanded further on the hospital’s campus when Wake Forest College’s medical school moved from its campus in Wake Forest to Winston-Salem in 1941.
Today, the hospital is an 885-bed tertiary care center that treats patients and families from across the region and around the world. The Wake Forest Baptist health system has grown to include five community hospitals, more than 300 primary and specialty care locations, 2,700 physicians, 4,000 nurses and more than 20,000 employees.
“We are confident that we will continue to uphold our legacy and the next 100 years will bring new clinical services, new advancements in research and treatment, new innovations and new ways to educate generations of health care leaders,” said Dr. Julie Freischlag, CEO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. “The sky is the limit on what we can accomplish together.”
The hospital began a year of recognition and celebration of 100 years of caring with an event held May 17 attended by Wake Forest Baptist leaders, elected officials, and current and past board members.
During the event, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines presented Freischlag with a proclamation marking North Carolina Baptist Hospital Centennial Day. A representative from Sen. Thom Tillis’ office presented Freischlag with a framed submission of the Centennial into the Congressional Record and a representative from Sen. Ted Budd’s office presented her with a certificate and a U.S. flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol.
Throughout the decades, North Carolina Baptist Hospital has made history with a number of medical firsts and significant research discoveries that have elevated care in the state, across the country and around the world.
Some of those advancements include becoming the first in the world to successfully use MRI to diagnose blockages in blood vessels leading to the heart, becoming the first in the world to engineer laboratory-grown organs that were successfully implanted into humans, and inventing the Would VAC to help treat large wounds.
In addition, the hospital became the first in the United States to reattach a severed hand and the first in the country to use ultrasound to detect prostate cancer.
The hospital was also the first in North Carolina to use cobalt to treat cancer patients, the first in the state to successfully open a blocked artery using a laser. The hospital also was the site of the first CAT scanner in North Carolina.
Sheree Watson, chair of the N.C. Baptist Hospital board of trustees, said the hospital continues to be known as a place of healing in North Carolina and beyond.
“Growing up in the mountains of western North Carolina, I remember as a young child hearing about the legacy of Baptist Hospital,” Watson said. “It was well known throughout western North Carolina as a place of healing. As I travel throughout the state and across the country, that reputation still holds true.”
The hospital will continue its centennial celebrations through May 2024. Learn more at www.wakehealth.edu/centennial.
(EDITOR’S NOTE – This report was compiled based on information from Wake Forest Baptist’s media relations team.)
