Carilion History: Giles Hospital, Part 2

From the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s, the hospital continued to grow and prosper, increasing its capacity to 65 beds.

During 1964, the heating and cooling system was completed along with a new roof and paved parking lot.

In 1966, the president of the board of trustees said, “These doors have never been closed to any person, regardless of financial standing or of race or creed or for any other reason. We should bear in mind what this place means to the Giles County area, and we might do well to keep on reminding ourselves of this question: What would we do without it?”

But in 1967, admissions declined for the first time, and a lack of doctors would continue to plague the hospital over the next few years.

Still, the hospital worked hard to improve its facilities. Improvements in the amount of $31,000 were made in 1969, including the piping of oxygen and the availability of suction to each bed as well as the nursery, operating and delivery rooms. The operating and delivery rooms were also piped with nitrous oxide for anesthetic use.

The hospital’s 20th year of operation, 1970, would be one of its most difficult. In February, the hospital was denied accreditation for the first time in 16 years. In September, the lack of doctors forced the hospital administrator to cut back the operating hours of the emergency department. He implored the community to use the emergency room only in the case of a “true emergency…when medical assistance is required immediately for prolonging life in case of critical injury, fatal disease or calamity.”

Unfortunately, an epidemic of speculation was created in Giles County about the hospital closing. Administrators emphasized that the hospital was doing everything possible to recruit new physicians and regain standing with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH).

In the midst of the challenges, local residents began rallying behind the hospital they had worked so hard to make a reality 20 years before.

In a letter to the editor of the local paper in November 1970, Mrs. Arthur Robertson summed up the feelings of many in the community:

“I thank God for the fine doctors and nurses that we have at GMH and not only them but the ones on the staff and the workers in the cafeteria and the ones that keep our hospital so nice and clean. To those that are always ready to criticize our fine doctors and nurses, I wish they could be in their shoes for awhile. I don’t believe they would be ready to criticize so easily. The only thing we lack at GMH is more fine doctors, nurses and workers like the ones we have so they wouldn’t have to work as hard.”

During 1971, Giles Memorial took major strides to get back on its feet, with many improvements and repairs to the hospital. A new inhalation therapy department had begun, new equipment was acquired and the hospital started a chaplain of the week program in conjunction with the Giles County Ministerial Association.

Best of all, two new physicians joined the medical staff.

Two treatment rooms and a recovery room—a first for the hospital—were added in 1972. But concerns remained about the decline in patient days.

There were 828 fewer patient days in 1972 than in the previous year. In total, patient days had declined from a peak of 17,300 in 1965 to 11,562 in 1972. The physician shortage was cited as a cause, as was the declining population due to a lack of employment in the county.

Another factor was that additional hospitals such as Montgomery Regional had opened within easy driving distance for many Giles residents.

But in 1973, the hard work to attract new doctors to the area paid off. That year alone, three new doctors relocated to the area and would serve as the catalyst for a remarkable turnaround for Giles Memorial.

Physician recruitment wasn’t the only area where the hospital had put in an extraordinary amount of time and effort. The staff made getting re-accreditation a top priority, and between 1970 and 1973 set about revising and publishing new hospital policies and procedures to meet accreditation requirements.

The JCAH responded by reinstating accreditation in 1973, a major achievement that the entire hospital staff could justifiably take pride in.

The hospital succeeded in completing $50,000 in capital improvements to its facility, including emergency power generation facilities, up to date lab equipment and other new technology to improve the quality of patient care.

The hospital auxiliary, which formed in 1967, experienced tremendous influx of new members as well.

By early 1974, it was apparent that Giles Memorial had not only survived, but was actually thriving one again.

A year before, it was predicted that the hospital would lose at least $30,000 during 1973. In fact, the hospital would attain a budget surplus of $25,000 for the year.

January 1974 represented a good microcosm of how the hospital had gotten back on its feet—patient days were the most for a single month since January 1968.