MORE: Hospital to celebrate anniversary by backing Middletown fireworks show
Here are 7 things to know about Middletown hospital on its 100th anniversary:
1. The hospital got its start after a 1910 train collision and a devastating 1913 flood that sent residents to Cincinnati and Dayton hospitals looking for help. Community leaders led the drive to ensure Middletown had its own hospital.
2. Three Middletown families — the Verity family, Gardner family and Harvey family — played a historic role in establishing a Middletown hospital on March 5, 1917, which opened with 28 beds. It’s now at 328 beds.
3. Pioneering physicians who supported the opening of the hospital and fostered its growth include Dr. Mabel Gardner, Dr. David Gerber and Dr. E.O. Bauer. When Dr. Gardner started her practice in Middletown in 1915, she was the city’s first woman doctor and during 50-plus years of practice, she delivered more than 10,000 Middletown babies.
4. Middletown Hospital became Middletown Regional Hospital in 1983 to reflect the hospital’s expanding service area including Ohio’s Butler, Warren, Preble and Montgomery counties. It joined Dayton-based Premier Health system in 2005 and opened Atrium Medical Center Dec. 9, 2007, on a new, approximately 190-acre campus near the intersection of Ohio 122 and Interstate 75.
Credit: Greg Lynch
Credit: Greg Lynch
5. In December, Atrium started its new Natural Beginnings Birth Center, the first natural birth center in the greater Cincinnati area to be located within an acute care hospital.
6. Atrium received in January the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence for the third consecutive year. The award places Atrium among the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide for clinical excellence.
7. Renovations are expected to be completed this spring to add a Senior Emergency Center within the existing emergency department.
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