North Adams Regional Hospital

Description

About NARH
North Adams Regional Hospital is a fullservice community hospital in North Adams Massachusetts in the heart of the Berkshire Hills For over a century North Adams Regional Hospital has provided the Northern Berkshire community with the finest health care available

Our medical staff includes internists family care practitioners and a broad range of specialists Ninetyseven percent of our medical staff is boardcertified or boardeligible which means that they have met the highest standards set by the medical profession We have an exceptional staff of highly skilled physicians nurses and medical specialists

NARH is committed to excellence in health care from the quality of care we provide to our patients to the caring that we extend to visitors That commitment is seen in the faces of the people who serve you at NARH

History

History
In 1882 hours after the second train disaster in a month had left 35 workmen badly injured or dying citizens of North Adams organized a subscription drive to raise the 12000 needed to build a hospital Since there was no hospital to take care of the injured men any boarding house with extra room was soon packed with casualties

Only three hours after that second train accident WL Brown and WS Johnson of North Adams started a subscription drive to raise funds for a hospital Within a few days they had several thousand dollars in both large and small contributions The first hospital committee members were Mr Brown and Mr Johnson CT Sampson HGB Fisher and William Arthur Gallup family names that became very important to the early history of the hospital

They were especially proud of the site chosen for the building the Estes estate The 30 acres of peaceful pastureland high above the city positioned the hospital away from any noise and quotopen to the pure air of the hillsquot

The original North Adams Hospital opened on March 2 1885 with 12 beds quotfor the care and treatment of the sick and disabledquot At the time the price of a hospital stay was 4 a week if you lived in North Adams 5 if you did not and there were quotno fees to the physicians and surgeons who gave their services to the hospitalquot During that first year 34 patients were admitted the first on March 11

Running the hospital was left to the women of the community many of whom were among the original corporators A Board of Control was created and its members handled the daily details of hospital administration as well as raising operating funds The original outpouring of contributions was enthusiastic but there was little in the treasury when the hospital opened In 1886 Louise B Tyler Secretary of the hospital wrote to a Mr Davis thanking him for his recent donation quotIf you could know of our many discouragements you would realize how heartily your great kindness is appreciatedquot

In 1891 a nurses training school was opened in an effort to ensure an ongoing supply of fully trained staff to care for the growing number of patients it treated Over the years the school became well known and students were accepted from all over the country

It was not an easy life however A students day began at 6 am with lights out at 1015 pm They were on duty from 720 in the morning until 8 at night and had one halfday and half of Sunday off each week and two hours a day for study rest and recreation if the hospital could spare them the time off They received 6 a month which was quotnot intended as wages it being considered that the education given is a full equivalent for their services

As might have been expected the demands upon the hospital soon outstripped its facilities and by 1905 only 20 years after its construction the building was hopelessly overcrowded So it became necessary to construct an annex in 1905 the first of many additions made to the original structure down through the years In 1912 through the generosity of the Herbert Clark family a nurses residence was constructed on the hospital grounds

However because of limited financial resources and more restrictive state regulations it became necessary to close the nurses training school in 1937 Almost immediately a school for privateduty nurses was opened It operated until 1943 when the Clark House was given over for patient rooms

The hospital got its first motor ambulance in 1920 and opened its first quotaccident and emergency departmentquot in 1938 World War II was probably the hardest period for the hospital because of the severity of local and national shortages of nurses doctors and supplies For a while it seemed that the hospital would have to close but with the invaluable help of volunteers it was able to endure the hardship

In the ensuing years the hospital became a more important and necessary community resource And while periodic additions to the original structure increased the number of beds and provided more space for expanding medical services and specialties it became clear in the early 1950s that a new building would be needed A broadbased fundraising effort was launched and the majority of the 1789183 it took to construct the new hospital was raised from local individuals businesses and organizations

In 1955 local residents cheered when the new building officially opened its doors to welcome patients A similar fundraising effort in the late 1960s resulted in the addition of the North Wing that housed additional beds and a number of ancillary services Two decades later the Centennial Fund provided well over a million dollars toward a 35 million effort to modernize the existing facility and construct new areas for clinical use

Today NARH has completed a major renovation and expansion project The hospital now has a new and expanded Critical Care Unit stateoftheart Surgical Services a beautiful new Birthing Center and a new and larger Emergency Center

Throughout its history the local hospital has grown with the community expanding as the population grew keeping pace with changing needs and advancements in medical science and developing costeffective ways to offer the best medical care possible This has been a constant even as doctors nurses and staff the buildings and medical technology changed

As NARH meets the challenge of providing health care into the 21st century there is another constant the commitment and support of the community not only to the hospital as a physical facility but to its caregivers In recent years that support enabled the purchase of a new stereotactic breast biopsy unit the expansion of NARHs endoscopy suite support of a multidisciplinary team that is working to improve the treatment and quality of life for congestive heart failure patients special wound care education for visiting nurses and the creation of an employee education center That commitment is reciprocated by the hospital staff in the care it provides to the community