Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
Academic medical center and Level I trauma center in Winston-Salem.
Based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist is an academic medical center and health system that belongs to Charlotte-based Advocate Health. It employs over 19,220 people across 198 buildings on 428 acres, making it Forsyth County’s largest employer. The system includes its main tertiary-care hospital, five community hospitals, the Wake Forest School of Medicine, and the Innovation Quarter.
Quick Facts
- Region
- Winston-Salem
- Country
- United States
- Healthcare
- Private
- Funding
- Non-profit hospital
- Speciality
- General
- Emergency
- Level I Adult Trauma Center, Level I Pediatric Trauma Center
- Affiliation
- Wake Forest School of Medicine
- Network
- Advocate Health
Facts from the source article.
History
In 1902, Wake Forest College Medical School began as a two-year program on its namesake campus in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, aiming to create hospitals for those who couldn't afford care, led to an 88-bed hospital opening on May 28, 1923, on 11 acres in Winston-Salem. A $750,000 bequest from an R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. president funded the medical school's move to Winston-Salem and its expansion to a four-year institution. In 1941, the Bowman Gray School of Medicine opened there, partnering with N.C. Baptist Hospital to form "The Miracle on Hawthorne Hill." Brenner Children's Hospital, a 144-bed facility within the larger hospital, opened in 1986. The institutions realigned as Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in 1997, and in 2011 the corporate entity rebranded as Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. In 2002, Wake Forest Baptist began operating Davie County Hospital in Mocksville. Davie Medical Center in Bermuda Run opened Medical Plaza 1 in August 2013 and Medical Plaza 2 in October 2013, the latter adding an emergency department and operating room. A $47 million, 78,220-square-foot, 50-bed expansion opened April 3, 2017, moving inpatient services from Mocksville. Lexington Memorial Hospital affiliated with Wake Forest Baptist on October 1, 2008. In July 2017, Wake Forest Baptist began a 30-year lease with Wilkes Medical Center. On October 25, 2017, Wake Forest Baptist announced it would take over High Point Regional Health System by summer 2018.
Services
The hospital is a Level I trauma center serving the entire Piedmont region of North Carolina and houses one of three Level I Pediatric Trauma Centers in the state. It offers a pediatric emergency department, pediatric and neonatal intensive-care units, and AirCare, a critical-care transport service operating ground ambulances and three helicopters. Wake Forest Innovations operates Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, a mixed-use center in downtown Winston-Salem housing the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Inmar. Wake Forest Baptist Health operates 16 free-standing outpatient dialysis centers, the largest academically owned and operated dialysis operation in the country. A Joslin Diabetes Center, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, opened at a Winston-Salem location in 2012.
Rankings
For 2015–16, U.S. News & World Report placed this medical center among the country's top hospitals in seven specialties, including cancer and neurology. It also earned high-performing marks in five adult fields such as cardiology and orthopedics. Its Brenner Children's Hospital, a 144-bed facility inside the main center, received a national ranking in orthopedics.
Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma
Founded in 2008 thanks to a gift from Richard and Judy Childress, the institute works to lead a nationwide push to lower death and disability from injuries in kids under 18. Trauma is the leading cause of death for American children aged 1 to 18, killing nearly 10,000 each year—more than all other causes combined. Based at Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, the institute funds research and medical education across the U.S. and works to increase public understanding of this issue.
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