Memorial Hosp Of Rhode Island

Description

Overview
The Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island is a 294bed community hospital serving the Blackstone Valley of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts The hospital is a teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the chief site for the medical schools primary care academic program housed in the Center for Primary Care

Our main campus is in Pawtucket RI and our affiliates provide primary and ambulatory care services in Pawtucket and Central Falls and in Plainville MA Memorial Hospital also has a stateoftheart cancer treatment facility in Pawtucket

History

History
Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island In the 100 years since the Pawtucket Business Mens Association voted to charter what they dubbed quotThe Pawtucket General Hospitalquot Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island has never lost sight of its original dedication to service and the promotion of good health

These were among the objectives originally set forth in the deeded gift of businessman William F Sayles whose foresight provided the money necessary to build the hospital After his death in 1894 Mr Sayles who helped found the Saylesville Finishing Plant the worlds largest textile bleachery in the bustling Lincoln mill village that bears his name left 200000 for quotcharitable usesquot chosen by his son Frank Frank A Sayles envisioned the creation of a communitybased hospital that would treat anyone regardless of their ability to pay and help foster good health in the surrounding area

quotShall be forever occupied and used by The Memorial Hospital as a hospital where the rich and the poor who may be suffering from sickness accident or injuries may receive medical and surgical care and treatment paying therefore such amounts if any as the respectively may be able to pay and the said corporation may from time to time require But no person shall be refused care and treatment in said hospital merely because of inability to make compensation thereof if the resources of said corporation for the time being are sufficient to enable it to receive care for and treat persons without charge All sums received from the patients for care and treatment shall become a part of the general funds of the corporation to be used for the purpose of defraying its running expenses or otherwise used for supplying the needs of the hospital and increasing its efficiency as an instrument of public goodquotDeed of gift of Frank A Sayles

From such a noble foundation Memorial Hospital has spent the past century growing steadily from a 30bed institution that admitted two patients its first day to a sprawling 13acre teaching institution with 294 beds and six satellite primary care center facilities in Rhode Island and nearby MassachusettsMemorial is certainly a place where the sick get well where patients are whisked into the emergency and operating rooms for relief of traumatic injury where stroke victims can spend hours relearning how to walk in the Physical Medicine Department But it is so much more

Memorial has come to embody a myriad of internationallyrenowned research studies the enthusiasm of medical students in unique Family and Internal Medicine Programs the rehabilitation center and one of the first Home Care Programs in New England Here researchers ply their ideas and theories in a fertile petri dish where they study prevention of childhood obesity or ways to stop progression of and to treat osteoarthritis

Memorial has also fostered a healthy relationship with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University bringing residents in both Internal and Family Medicine training programs into the hospital The Family Medicine program is the only one of its kind in the state to integrate the broad range of preventive counseling and diagnostic and treatment services These elements combine for a dynamic atmosphere in which Memorial reaches beyond the boundaries of conventional medicine to develop bold new programs and services that are designed to help people stay healthy before and after hospitalization

Also through the years Memorial has enjoyed a special relationship with the people of the Blackstone Valley Thousands of babies have entered the world in the stateoftheart maternity suites hundreds of men and women earned nursing degrees in the 70year existence of the hospitals School of Nursing and even more residents and neighbors have turned to the medical professionals here for guidance treatment and compassion

The commitment to the community has helped fuel Memorials dynamic growth through the decades from the construction of a private wing for 23 patients constructed in 1918 for just 50975 to the opening of the spectacular 126million Sayles Building in 1987 Memorials niche as one of the most modern and progressive hospital facilities in the nation is tribute to the dedication of the staff and the generosity of Blackstone Valley residents which its founders envisioned as key to the success of the institution

quotThe Memorial Hospital is a public institution but is not supported by the City It was organized and is conducted for the benefit of the community It belongs to and must be sustained by the people The Trustees confidently expect that the people of Pawtucket and vicinity will cheerfully sustain this great charityquot President Charles O Read in the first annual report

The evolution of a hospital
In death William F Sayles sought to honor the memory of his deceased wife Mary Wilkinson Sayles and daughter Martha Freeman Sayles leaving money to be used at his sons discretion After consulting for several years on the different uses for the bequest Frank A Sayles followed the direction of members of the Pawtucket Business Mens Association and decided a hospital would serve the needs of a rapidly growing Blackstone Valley and fulfill his fathers wishes

On May 25 1901 The Memorial Hospital was incorporated with Lyman M Darling as the first corporation president Frank Sayles deeded the hospital to the corporation in June A year later on June 30 1902 Charles O Read announced at a Trustees meeting that Mr Sayles was donating the Dunnell Homestead with its mansion and acres of grounds for hospital purposes The original intention was to renovate and equip the large threestory Italianate mansion for use as the hospital but Mr Sayles objected It was his belief that the hospital should be just one storyHe had the mansion torn down in 19061907 and commissioned Boston architect Guy Lowell to design a hospital building Construction on the hospital began in 1907 and took three years

On June 29 1910 Frank Sayles presented the completed and equipped facility to the Memorial Hospital Corporation in a deed of gift On the same day the corporation elected Mr Read its first president Stressed were the original intentions of the corporation to treat everyone rich and poor needing medical assistancequotNo person shall be refused care and treatment in said hospital merely because of an inability to make compensationquot Frank A Sayles term of gift

President Read opened the doors to Memorial Hospital on Oct 1 1910 and staff admitted two patients one of whom required surgery In that first year 449 patients received treatment of some kind and the average daily census was 21 patients Major operations cost 10 with 8x12 xrays costing 3 apiece Patients seeking a private room paid 25 a week or 16 for a twobed room and 12 for a bed on a ward One intern PJ Keough MD was available for duty at all times

The main entrance to the original hospital faced Prospect Street with a large semicircular drive coming up the front of the Sayles Building The domed Sayles structure served as the entrance to the hospital and housed the administrative offices Patient services were provided in a series of wings running perpendicular to Prospect Street connected by hallways Even with all its new facilities however the hospital was often full
quotFrom this time forward the number of patients steadily increased reaching at one time the maximum of 37 under treatment per day and maintaining an average during the last six months of 28 This indicates that at the end of our first year the capacity of the institution as at present constituted is already severely taxed and we have several times been obliged to refuse admission to patients on this accountquot President Read first annual report
The next few years were a flurry of acquisitions and grand openings for Mr Read and the rest of the Trustees In November of 1910 Mrs Daisy B Goff donated the Lyman T Goff House to be used as the Isabella Goff Dormitory for Nurses as the hospital prepared to board students for the new School of Nursing In 1911 the school opened as did an outpatient department in the hospitals basement a tuberculosis clinic and an xray department The hospital expanded to the entire block and more than 13 acres when Darius L Goff donated the estate of the late Claudius B Farnsworth at the corner of Prospect and Pond streets on February 27 1913

The size of the hospitals property was now the equivalent of the land occupied by the Great Pyramid of Egypt Even such acquisitions didnt help ease the space crunches facing the hospital starting barely a year after opening in the summer of 1911 when a canvas tent was erected on the grounds to allow the hospital to care for more patients at times when the wards were full Patients whose condition allowed it slept in the tent A separate quotcampquot was set up to treat sick infants Later during World War I a portable 18 by 31foot Hodgson House was erected on the grounds to serve convalescent veterans At other times such as during a scarlet fever epidemic in 1914 and the Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918 space became premium when quarantined units were created

Growing in leaps and bounds
Through the next few decades Memorial Hospital grew to include a 23bed private wing opened in July of 1918 dermatology services an orthopedic ward opened in 1925 a childrens ward opened in 1926 an accident room opened in 1932 a Department of Radium Therapy opened in 1939 a hemoclinic or blood bank opened in 1942 and a physical therapy department established in 1949

quotThe Outpatient Department is doing a most charitable an important work Protracted illness is here often prevented restoring the wage earner to his family without a long stay in the hospital ward which might otherwise be a necessityquot President Read

The physical structure of the hospital was also continuously expanded to meet the needs of the community and to house these various departments and clinics On June 1 1931 in the midst of the Great Depression the hospital opened a pediatricsmaternity unit using a 200000 donation from Mr and Mrs James R MacColl in memory of their daughter Margaret who died in childhood The unit named after the family added 44 beds for children and 25 for maternity Its design is reminiscent of the original hospital buildings which featured pink stucco and topped with a red tile roof The building is also similar to the original hospital structure in that it has a long main form with a cross gabled wing on each end

Two decades later in October of 1951 workers completed a twostory stuccoed wing on the north side of the hospital named The Richardson Building after an original trustee E Russel Richardson who left a trust fund of 285000 when he died in 1931The building designed by the firm of Monahan Meikle and Johnson which did much of the work on the grounds of the original hospital added 56 beds bringing the hospitals total bed count to 214 It also afforded room for the new Therapy and Nursing Arts departments and a lecture hall

The modern era
Memorial Hospital officials consider 1965 to be a critical year in the history of theorganization It is that year with the opening of the Harold W Wood Building that Memorial entered an ambitious modernization and expansion program that continued for more than 20 years enlarging the physical appearance and size of the main campus to its current size The sevenstory Wood Building provided Memorial with 150 new medical surgical and maternity beds in a lush modern settingThe building also featured a new emergency department xray facility and cafeteria Named for the longtime treasurer and president of the hospital the Wood project cost a total of 38 million Of that 13 million 300000 more than expected was donated by members of the community

Phase two of the modernization program the Dr Percy Hodgson Building was dedicated next to the Wood Building on August 20 and 21 1976 The building named after the President of the Board of Trustees cost 8 million of which 4 million was pledged by members of the community and hospital staff Inside the structure was a new operating theatre with eight operating rooms a pharmacy and space for transportation and central processing In addition there were 80 modern patient rooms including those in the new intensive care and coronary care units

In 1985 the third phase of modernization was unveiled in the 17million Ambulatory Care Center The 16000square foot center serves as the central facility for outpatient services and was the first part completed in a 143million construction and renovation program Housed there are such services as mammography xray Home Care blood screening and other laboratory testing The remainder of the money 126 million was used for the new Sayles Building completed in September of 1987

On the site of the original hospital building the 67000square foot space creates a majestic new domed entrance as well as modern space for the emergency room medical rehabilitation physical therapy and admitting Although this 20year span marked the most dramatic period of physical growth and modernization for Memorial Hospital the shovels and hard hats were not put away permanently Hospital physicians and administrators made a visible commitment to the concept of primary medicine through which patients are treated from infancy to geriatric stages by one physician Entire families are welcomed by primary care physicians in the same office using a holistic approach to medicine Opened in 1999 the Center for Primary Care serves more than 12000 patients a year

Centralizing services for the convenience of patients The Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital was completed in 2002 It provides a spacious area for oncology offices infusion therapy and an educational resource center

In an effort to meet growing needs for preventative screening and early detection of disease The Endoscopy Center was built in 2006

An expanded and renovated Emergency Department opened in 2008 offering improved patient privacy and comfort as well as computerized tracking documentation and retrieval of medical information to speed and enhance care

Research coexists with treatment
Memorial Hospital has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship between treatment of the ill and medical education and research since thevery beginning with the opening of its Training School for Nurses just months after the hospital first opened in 1911 John F Kenney MD who came to the hospital in 1914 and later served as Chief of the Medical Service until 1946 pioneered the concept of inhouse medical education here and lent his enthusiasm to generations of doctors since

The most telling indication of the hospitals dedication to education is embodied in an affiliation with the Alpert Medical School Created in 1969 the relationship has brought thousands of the best young medical students interns residents and research fellows in the country through the hospitals doors for study and practice Memorial has grown into the second largest teaching hospital in the state with the majority of the fulltime medical staff affiliated with the medical school and dozens of residents in various specialties working here

The hospital is home to Browns Family Medicine and Internal Medicine residency programs through which staff physicians teach medical residents about rehabilitation and restorative care This infusion invigorated Memorials medical research endeavors Today more than fifty research projects supported by more than 25 million in federal funds ranks the hospital among the top research hospitals in Rhode Island Memorial is also on the forefront in the relatively new specialty field of Family Medicine which emphasizes the role of the primary care physician as the orchestrator of care and treatment for members of an entire family

These specially trained doctors provided preventive health care assessments and counseling for families in addition to their traditional diagnostic and treatment services Brown medical schools Family Medicine teaching program is anchored at Memorial Hospital where residents undergo rigorous training in a wide variety of medical areas including pediatrics gerontology surgery emergency medicine obstetrics gynecology internal and behavioral medicine Throughout the threeyear program residents work directly with families in neighborhood health centers private physician offices and as staff members of Memorials Center for Primary Care and Prevention In that capacity they provide family planning services assess learning disabilities provide family crisis intervention and offer a full scope of traditional medical services

Rehabilitation resource
By the 1980s the combination of facilities and talent helped Memorial Hospital evolve to become the designated center for Rhode Islands rehabilitation services The hospital is home to the Institute for Rehabilitation and Restorative Care the Rhode Island Rehabilitation Network and the Brown Medical schools rehabilitation program

The hospital also trains rehabilitation professionals in hospitalbased services for the chronically disabled Patients who have suffered a stroke amputation or hip fracture can find emotional and physical support in the services offered in Memorials rehab unit More than 25000 patient visits are recorded each year for such services as physical occupational and speech therapy physiatric follow up diagnostic and the braceamputation clinic

Another rehabilitation services available is the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program which consists of carefully supervised exercise regimens for patients recovering from heart attacks bypass surgery and angina

The Home Care Program at Memorial Hospital one of the first hospitalbased programs of its kind in New England provides a variety of medical services for patients as small as infants up to senior citizens The goal of the program is to enable patients to leave the hospital earlier and recover at home Home Care staff provide physical occupational and speech therapy personal care medical supplies and prescription drugs Home Care staff provide more than 60000 visits to more than 3000 patients annually

The Stroke Center at Memorial Hospital earned Primary Stroke Canter designation from The Joint Commission in 2009 This designation demonstrates a commitment to excellence to improve outcomes for stoke patients