New Hanover Regional Med Ctr

Description

Mission Vision amp Values
Mission
New Hanover Regional Medical Center is a teamcentered valuefocused teaching provider of quality health care to all in need of its services

Vision
To be the best provider of comprehensive health services rendered with value dignity and respect

Values
As one of the largest employers and the leading provider of health care in southeastern North Carolina New Hanover Regional Medical Center believes in the value of life Our philosophy is to honor and celebrate life through the care we deliver to patients and their families the service we provide to physicians the environment we create for our employees and volunteers and the attitude we display to all We embrace the following values
Quality
Dignity
Loyalty
Education
Compassion
Integrity
Respect
Efficiency

We will fulfill this mission and vision and demonstrate these values by
Providing quality care and service to our patients their families medical
staff employees and the community while assuring respect and dignity for
each individual

Maintaining effective and productive use of resources to control costs

Ensuring superior leadership focused on value and responsibly planning for
the future while protecting and enhancing our existing physical financial
and human resources

Promoting teamwork communication and participation in decisionmaking and
recognizing each individuals contribution

History

History
On June 14 1967 seven prematurely born infants arrived in cardboard cradles as tiny ambassadors in perhaps the crowning civil rights achievement in the history of Wilmington NC

They were the first patients of the newly opened New Hanover Memorial Hospital During a turbulent period of civil rights in this nations history their arrival marked the merger in a small city in the Deep South of a black and white hospital without protest riot or bloodshed For the first time the countys hospital treated everyone regardless of race creed national origin or ability to pay

But the opening of what is today known as New Hanover Regional Medical Center was not without difficulty and controversy a trait it shares with the overall history of health and healing in southeastern North Carolina That history also marked by outstanding achievement and innovation is as much about war politics race relations philanthropy and public sanitation as doctors and medicine

Wilmington boasts the states first licensed MD Armand DeRosset the states first AfricanAmerican licensed MD Francis Shober and one of the states first medical and nursing schools Dr Thomas Fanning Wood and Dr Moses John DeRosset III the founders of public health in the state are from Wilmington And one of the states earliest and most innovative specialty hospitals Babies Hospital cared for children in the salt air of nearby Wrightsville Beach under the direction of Dr J Buren Sidbury

But the regions first hospitals had one of two functions caring for the sick and wounded from the battlefield or caring for ailing sailors returning from sea

As was the case with many of the early hospitals the regions first was seized rather than built British soldiers during the Revolutionary War commandeered St James Church in downtown Wilmington to care primarily for soldiers who had fallen ill During the Civil War the same story was often repeated as armies from both sides confiscated buildings for temporary use as hospitals The concern over the spread of infectious disease usually via unsanitary conditions worried military leaders far more than actual battlefield injury A deadly yellow fever epidemic in 1862 in Wilmington helped confirm their fears of cities as havens for plagues and disease

By 1857 a major railway had connected Wilmington to Virginia Wilmington had grown into the states largest city and cultural center The federal government commissioned a hospital and hired Scottish builder James Walker to build it The construction of US Marine Hospital cost 43898 Mr Walker stayed in Wilmington and in 1900 commissioned the construction of a new hospital in his adopted hometown

James Walker Memorial Hospital was a stateoftheart hospital when it opened in 1902 It opened a nursing school for RNs and featured a womens unit and horsedrawn ambulance service It also had a colored annex but it was clear that in a town torn by a racial riot in 1898 access to care was not equal AfricanAmerican physicians disgusted by their inability to practice opened Community Hospital and a nursing school in 1921 The two hospitals operated separately for the next 46 years

By 1947 James Walker Hospital had become outdated The hospital board asked the county for funds to rebuild but the issue died for lack of interest In 1953 the James Walker board again asked for public money to build a new hospital and again the proposal failed Four years later three prominent physicians pooled their resources and opened private Cape Fear Memorial Hospital But that did not solve the problem of the major hospital facility being outdated

With the areas physicians saying current facilities were obsolete there was enough interest in 1958 for voters to decide whether to build a new hospital It failed by a 2frac12to1 margin Supporters of a new hospital rallied again for another bond vote but encountered opposition from AfricanAmerican leaders who didnt trust the white community to build an integrated hospital Leaders of the drive for a new hospital tirelessly courted the black community as well as the community at large to support the proposed hospital

Another vote was held on Nov 7 1961 With all votes tallied except one precinct a mostly black downtown precinct the no votes led the ballot But by then a foundation of trust had been built The precinct came in overwhelmingly in favor of the hospital and the referendum passed

Less than six years later New Hanover Memorial Hospital opened the same day James Walker Memorial Hospital closed The first patients were prematurely born infants and they arrived in a caravan of ambulances who traveled a route prescribed by law enforcement from throughout the region The region had come together as one health care community for the first time

The network acquired New Hanover Countys emergency medical services in 1998 and added the regions first air ambulance service in 2001 around the same time it took a national lead in disaster response planning One year later New Hanover Regional EMS became the states first model EMS system

A freestanding cancer center opened in 2001 and two years later the cancer program was designated a national Teaching Hospital Program by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer

In 2003 the American Nurses Association designated New Hanover Regional including the Cape Fear campus as the 70th Nursing Magnet hospital in the world Today New Hanover Regional is embarking on a fouryear building project that will add a standalone stateofthe art womens and childrens center complete with a new pediatric surgery program a new surgical pavilion a renovated patient tower with all private rooms and a remodeled Emergency Department The new campus will have expanded radiology services as well as a new entrance to its NHRMC Heart Center

New Hanover Regional receives no local tax support for its operations and will contribute about 37 million this year to care for the poor As its services have grown so has its role in this regions economy Including personnel costs and good and services purchased the medical center today has an impact of more than 1 billion annually on the economy of New Hanover County alone