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Description

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Mission Statement
Mt Ascutney Hospital and Health Centers Mission is to provide the highest quality healthcare in a fiscally responsible manner

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History

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History
Celebrating 75 Years
This is the story of a community hospital that wouldnt take no for an answer

As Mt Ascutney Hospital and Health Center celebrates its 75th anniversary this year its history includes a difficult birth it was founded during the Great Depression and a determined rebirth with a new hospital in 1972

Of that time former trustee Tom Levesque of Windsor recalls quotA lot of people said we didnt need a new hospital that the town wasnt big enough and that we couldnt afford it I think we showed them that we did we were and we canquot

For 75 years the region has supported a community hospital that grew beyond the dreams of the original founders Mt Ascutney Hospital traces it roots to 1933 when the Windsor Hospital Corp formed Organizers were trying to keep a hospital in town after a private one struggled

Windsor Hospital was established in what is now the Stoughton House on Main Street a former mansion deeded to the cause by Allen Evarts After a fund drive raised 700 for secondhand hospital beds and an old Army operating table Dr and Mrs Arthur Patch traveled to Maine to procure them

The first patient was Cora Harris a local librarian who had fractured her hip The first baby Joseph Kazura Jr was born Jan 30 1934 Office visits cost 150 and house calls a dollar more

quotIt was small and personalquot said Dr Dale Gephart a retired physician who worked in the old hospital briefly before the present hospital opened quotIt was a real home atmospherequot said Jan Lynch a retired nurse who served several stints as hospital administrator quotThe staff were very caringquot

The early doctors kept daunting schedules They worked in the hospital had their own office hours took turns in the emergency room and delivered babies They made house calls as well quotThey workedquot said Lynch giving the word a dramatic emphasis For many years four principal doctors Dr Robert W Ballantyne Dr William H Krause Dr Owen W Rhoad and Dr William M Waterman provided around the clock coverage for Windsor and the surrounding area

Olive Miller of Windsor recalled Dr Ballantyne stopping in as he was making house calls and sitting in a comfortable chair for 15 minutes in front of a mural with a lake scene quotHed fold his arms and sit almost mesmerizedquot He told Miller that he relaxed by imagining himself in a canoe on the lake If he nodded off it would have been natural quotMany many nights he didnt get any sleepquot she said

Hazel Slayton a lab technologist at the hospital since 1959 and the hospitals longestserving employee shares an admiration for the physicians of that era quotThe doctors were very dedicated Thats what kept the hospital goingquot

Healthcare operated on a different scale then Miller had five babies at the hospital over the years and she remembers staying for a full two weeks after a birth Jean Willard accounting supervisor and a 40year hospital employee said the hospitals volume was quotalmost nothingquot compared to today The atmosphere was quotfamily orientedquot she recalled quotYou knew everybodyquot Economic realities have changed too She found a bill from 1955 that totaled 7515 for a baby girls delivery and fiveday hospital stay

Windsor was a busy town in the hospitals early decades The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Plant and the Cone Automatic Machine Company were major employers and a state prison was located in the downtown district Shoppers headed to Main Street stores on Friday night to buy shoes and clothes and groceries

By the late 1960s and early 70s the hospital was again facing challenges The doctors whod been the foundation were at retirement age and new physicians were needed Lynch said the old hospital building no longer met codes and state officials were threatening to shut it down

Meanwhile regionalization had become popular among planners State officials were promoting a regional hospital proposed for Charlestown NH to replace many of the community hospitals in the area

But Windsor Hospitals board and administration had other ideas Lynch said they decided to build a new hospital on former prison farm land on County Road a project that they undertook without state or federal support or dollars quotThe idea of building a new hospital was a major turning point in its historyquot said Dr Gephart quotIt offered an opportunity to decide what kind of hospital it would be and who it would servequot

Without outside aid the hospital depended on local support Employers in town allowed payroll deduction for contributions Area residents pledged over 600000 for the new hospital which opened in 1972 It had a 30bed nursing home attached and eight extendedcare beds With the change came a new identity Windsor Hospital Corp still exists as the corporate name but the hospital does business as Mt Ascutney Hospital and Health Center reflecting a new wider mission

quotWe were told that this was the hospital that couldnt be built and here it isquot said a speaker at the dedication ceremony News accounts at the time mentioned the contributions of the four doctors who had served the hospital and said that several new doctors would have offices there as well

Also thanked was Agatha Young an author of 22 books and major hospital benefactor who had Washington DC connections She was consultant to the Secretary of War during World War II and a special consultant to the White House under three presidents Lynch called her a quotfairy godmotherquot

A young professional administrator Smith Mowry took over when the new hospital was built Those who recall that era say he was well liked by the staff and community Tragedy struck several years later when he was killed in a car accident on the way to work Lynch said that was a traumatic time for the hospital

The new facility was larger but it retained many of its old qualities One was a tendency to retain staff for long tenures something that continues to this day Lynch said quotIt was a homey atmosphere You could grow along with the facilityquot She estimated that when she started at the old hospital in the 1950s it probably had a staff of about 30 Last year the employee roster topped 500

Dr Gephart said the hospital kept a sense of history through the years quotPeople said This is how we do things in Windsor quot he said Dr Beach Conger who has been with the hospital for more than 25 years has said that when he first arrived he asked about doing annual physicals quotYou wont have time for those he was told quotWe treat sick peoplequot

The current CEO Richard Slusky is among those whove stayed awhile He was recognized for 25 years of service last year and under his leadership the hospital has survived and even thrived in a time when some community hospitals in the Twin States have gone out of business quotRichard has created a rich corporate culture of caring for patients and staffquot said Hal Pyke president of the hospitals Board of Trustees He also lauded Sluskys quotability to accept risk and face challengesquot

During Sluskys tenure Mt Ascutney Hospital has added a rehabilitation unit and a therapeutic pool creating a niche that serves a wide region While the early hospital relied on four mainstay doctors the medical staff in 2007 numbered nearly 100 including fulltime staff and many who provide specialty services on a parttime basis Its regional scope includes membership in the DartmouthHitchcock Alliance a threestate network of hospitals and healthcare organizations

Locally the hospital partners on community projects such as the Historic Homes of Runnemede senior housing which includes the original hospital site at the Stoughton House and the Windsor Connection Resource Center It has taken the lead in community education programs and sponsored the Windsor Community Health Initiative In 2003 it was one of four national finalists for the American Hospital Associations Foster G McGaw Prize for community service

For more than 10 years the hospital has hosted a Healing Arts Clinic with complementary and alternative medicine practitioners In 2007 it took over management of the Ottauquechee Health Center strengthening ties to Woodstock and surrounding communities

Technology has recently become a bigger part of its history Just last year the hospital added a new CT scanner a bone densitometry machine a digital radiology system and adopted electronic medical records Its in the forefront of a regional effort to develop a system to allow hospitals to share medical information electronically when thats needed

The building has grown too A little over a year ago the hospital dedicated its largest expansion ever at its current location a 575 million project that added to the Emergency Department and improved space for Laboratory Radiology and Surgical Services quotThe building has caught up to the care we deliverquot said Nancy Loux vice president of the Board of Trustees

This time the state applauded the building project Gov James Douglas on hand to help cut a ceremonial ribbon at the dedication congratulated the hospital quotI think this is an addition of which everyone can be rightfully proudquot he said