In May, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist kicked off 100 Years of Caring, a yearlong celebration of the opening of North Carolina Baptist Hospital that will continue through May 2024. The hospital, now known as Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, officially reached its birthday on May 28. It was on that date in 1923 when the hospital first opened its doors with a simple commitment: to be a place of healing and teaching.
Today, the hospital is an 885-bed tertiary care center that treats families from across the region and the Wake Forest Baptist health system has grown to include five community hospitals, more than 300 primary and specialty care locations, 2,700 physicians, 4,000 nurses and more than 20,000 employees.
“In addition to providing world-class care, this hospital is a thriving part of research and education for Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and now as the academic core of Advocate Health, the sky is the limit on what we can accomplish together,” said Julie Ann Freischlag, MD, FACS, FRCSEd(Hon), DFSVS, MAMSE, CEO and chief academic officer of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, chief academic officer and executive vice president of Advocate Health and executive vice president for health affairs at Wake Forest University.
“We are confident that we will continue to uphold our legacy by adding clinical services, making advancements in research, developing innovations to bring treatments to patients quicker and educating generations of health care leaders.”
Through decades of growth, discoveries and medical firsts, the hospital’s care teams remained devoted to healing those in medical need and training others to carry on that legacy. Over time, they have been committed to improving the lives of generations throughout western North Carolina and beyond.
Now a thriving part of one of America’s leading academic learning health systems, the medical center continues to answer the call — to give the most compassionate care to those who need us and to train future medical professionals.
To build on that legacy and to continue providing exceptional care to the community for the next 100 years, the Centennial Giving Campaign has been launched to expand support for the ongoing growth, development and retention of the very best nurses, while setting the stage for continued excellence in pediatric care at Wake Forest Baptist and Brenner Children’s Hospital.