Carilion History: Our 1992 Annual Report

Have you had a chance to read this year's Report to the Community? It's full of fascinating and inspiring information about the work you and your coworkers are doing across the organization.

Twenty-five years ago, health care looked a lot different. Techniques and procedures that are common now were just being developed in 1992. The hospitals we operated weren't the same as what we know as part of the system today, and some have changed a lot over the years.  You might be surprised what was big news in the 1992 Annual Report!

1992 Annual Report cover, Gill Memorial Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, MRI unit, Roanoke Athletic Club

Who Was Part of Carilion in 1992?

In 1992, the following hospitals and centers were owned by or affiliated with Carilion:

• Bedford County Memorial Hospital
• Burrell Nursing Center
• Community Hospital of the Roanoke Valley–now known as Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital.
• Franklin Memorial Hospital
• Giles Memorial Hospital, which was replaced with CGCH in 2010.
• Gill Memorial Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. Gill remained open until 1996 when all operations were consolidated into CRCH.
• Lonesome Pine Hospital
• Roanoke Memorial Hospitals
• Radford Community Hospital, which was replaced by CNRV in 1999.
• St. Albans Psychiatric Hospital
• Southside Community Hospital
• Tazewell Community Hospital
• Wythe County Community Hospital

Our departments and business units included Roanoke Athletic Club, Ronald McDonald House, Life-Guard 10 and Viva, a health care club for those 55 and older.

Highlights From 1992

• The Carilion Center for Women and Children was created following the consolidation of obstetric, nursery and gynecological services between Community Hospital and Roanoke Memorial Hospitals New services included a new NICU and a prenatal diagnostic center.
• Life-Guard 10 celebrated its 10th anniversary of service to the community and a new hangar was completed to allow for on-site aircraft maintenance.
• The Northwest Center was opened to help meet the health needs of northwest Roanoke, which had been without a primary care physician for more than a year. 
• St. Albans became an affiliate of Carilion Health System, and we established CONNECT, a joint access and referral service between St. Albans and Roanoke Memorial Hospitals' Psychiatric Services. 
• Tazewell Community Hospital began offering ECHO cardiovascular ultrasound services and MRIs.
• Many of our hospitals had expansion projects underway. Franklin Memorial Hospital was in the middle of a $4.2 million expansion and renovation project that included a new emergency room, while plans were underway at Giles to expand and renovate the emergency department and lobby and at Radford to renovate the radiology, emergency care and admissions areas. We also began construction of a $55 million addition at Roanoke Memorial Hospitals.
• College of Health Sciences, which has transformed to Jefferson College, had 535 students. Today, Jefferson College has grown to over 1,000 students. 

What Was It Like in 1992?

Our Quarter Century Society (QCS) has over 900 members, so many of your coworkers were part of Carilion in 1992. We asked a few of them what it was like to work here back in the day:

• Mark Derbyshire, senior director, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, was co-director of EAP at the time. "In 1992, Carilion EAP had been in operation for just about five years.  Now in 2017, Carilion EAP contracts to serve 91 employers, covering 44,600 employees and their family members−more than double from 1992. This is our 30th year of continuous operation and I continued to be inspired by our mission."
• Ragan Farris, a project manager in TSG, was working in the same department in 1992, then called IT. "I had just joined Carilion in 1992, supporting the computer system we had at the time—for the four PCs we had in the organization. There was no email and letters were printed, typed and mailed through interoffice mail. Things have changed in ways I could have never imagined, and technology is moving so fast now to support patient care."
• Bud Grey, vice president, Carilion Wellness, was vice president of the Roanoke Athletic Club.  "Twenty-five years ago I had a lot more hair, and we had a lot fewer members.  I have staff members today whose parents were on our staff back then. We had a single athletic club, and we are now building our fifth wellness center.  But one thing is for sure, improving the health of the communities we serve is timeless."
• Don Love, vice president, Institute for Orthopaedics and Neurosciences, was the administrator at Gill Memorial Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. "Being at Gill was one of my most rewarding experiences, it was like a big family. When I arrived at Gill in 1982, patients had a three day average length of stay following cataract surgery; now they're in an out in under an hour. Thing are always changing in medical care, that was true then and is still true now.”

Did you or a family member work for Carilion in 1992? What do you remember from that time?