Carilion History: Franklin Memorial Hospital, Part 1

Frank Bayes Wolfe worked summers in the coal mines of West Virginia as he completed his medical training at the University of Virginia around 1940. In 1942, he joined the U.S. Army 110 Station Hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, where he met Franklin County native Dr. Henry Lee.

According to a written account from Dr. Wolfe, Lee once told him that Franklin County was “the greatest place in the United States for a person to establish a practice of general medicine.” Wolf was eventually swayed to set up practice in the area after the war.

Both doctors immediately recognized an urgent need for additional medical facilities in the area. Wolfe recalled that when he first visited the area, it was mostly farm country. There was an 18-bed hospital in an old home in Rocky Mount known as the Jamison Clinic.

Wolfe’s first office was over the old Angle Grocery Store at a time when home deliveries of babies were common. Complicated deliveries were referred to Roanoke hospitals. Doctors made house calls before and after business hours and emergency visits any time.

Lee and Wolfe purchased a home on Claiborne Avenue and planned to renovate it into a new hospital. They were, however, unable to get governmental funding and decided to build a completely new facility.

Raising Funds and Building a Hospital

The doctors enlisted the help of two prominent businessmen with experience in civic improvement, C.J. Davis and D.C. Vaughn. Along with the help of other citizens, a charter was obtained in July 1947.

By that October, a non-profit corporation was formed to promote the dream of building a local hospital. Funding was available through the Hill-Burton Act only if the county could come up with matching funds.

More than 150 county residents met with the corporation’s board of trustees the following spring and approved plans to raise $150,000 to $200,000 from the citizens and businesses in Franklin County. The mayor of Rocky Mount kicked off the fundraising effort by declaring the week of November 17, 1947 as Hospital Week.

Businesses and citizens alike chipped in all they could afford, and a year later contributions totaled $209,000.

The founders chose a site that bordered Main and Taliaferro Streets and Floyd Avenue to build the hospital, where it still resides today.

When women from all over the county gathered at the Methodist church in Rocky Mount in January 1952, it marked the beginning of an organization that would provide dedicated service to the hospital—the Women’s Auxiliary.

By March, the 148 volunteers were readying the hospital for opening. They made curtains, mattress covers and tablecloths. They donated a washing machine for baby clothes, flower containers and even coat hangers. Just before the hospital opened, they divided themselves into work groups to make sure the hospital’s windows were freshly cleaned. And they guided more than 5,000 visitors on hospital tours.

The hospital began hiring staff in April 1952, and hundreds of people crowded the streets for a formal dedication ceremony on May 2, three days before the hospital would open.

Crowds gather at the dedication ceremony on Saturday, May 3, 1952

Franklin Memorial Hospital opened on May 5, 1952. There were eight registered nurses and seven nursing assistants on duty. The brick building had a first floor and a basement.

Dr. Frank Bayes Wolfe leads a lecture for new nurses

William H. “Ham” Flannagan, hospital administrator, later told the Franklin News Post: “The building of the hospital, the first new building in the county in over 20-some years, was received in the very beginning with enthusiasm and loyalty by all the citizens within this great county. We struggled and worked hard together and were overjoyed that within the next two years we were one of the first small hospitals to become fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.”

Dr. Henry Lee performs surgery in the operating room at Franklin Memorial Hospital

A local funeral home supplied vehicles for use as ambulances in the 1950s

Dedicated to Education

Franklin Memorial Hospital was dedicated to educating health care workers from its early beginnings.

In 1956, the hospital offered a course in Introduction to Hospital and Medical Services that was geared toward junior college and high school students. The program was reported in professional journals and widely copied throughout the country and overseas.

One of the Women’s Auxiliary’s first major accomplishments was the development of a nurses’ aide class that prepared its members to better serve patients and hospital staff. By 1961, 288 women had completed training in a nurses’ aide course.

While volunteering thousands of hours at the hospital, the nurses’ aides helped upgrade health care in the community through alleviating a shortage in nurses. The hospital also offered continuous in-service training programs to keep the regular staff informed about new techniques and equipment.

A class of nurses' aides in the 1950s

The candy striper program was started in 1960. By 1961, 37 girls had successfully completed the course and volunteered more than 2,600 hours of nursing-related activities at the hospital.

Candy striper classes introduced many young women to the hospital

The First 25 Years

Changes in the role of physicians had swept over Franklin County by the time the hospital celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1977. It was during this era that a shift occurred from general practice to family practice. The change brought with it advanced training in areas such as medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology and psychiatry.

The emphasis was now toward family physicians providing preventative medicine and coordinating the health needs of an entire family through group practices.

More and more, doctors were treating acutely ill patients through the hospital emergency room, where care was available around the clock and on weekends.

Government regulations were reshaping the health care industry in the mid-1970s and that placed new demands on the hospital. To ensure it could continue to provide the best possible care at affordable costs, Franklin Memorial entered into a management contract with Roanoke Hospital Association in 1975.

The partnership allowed Franklin Memorial access to advanced diagnostic procedures and the newest treatments. It breathed new life into the hospital as new services, such as respiratory therapy, were offered.

Continuing its growth during the 1980s, the hospital opened a chapel, purchased birthing beds for the Obstetrics department and added ultrasound to its diagnostic capabilities.

Stay tuned for more history on Inside Carilion!