Carilion History: Highlights of the '60s, '70s and '80s
The 1960s marked the beginning of explosive growth for Roanoke Memorial Hospital (RMH). The hospital improved medical procedures with modern equipment previously only available at large teaching hospitals, yet the daily cost for patient care was kept lower than most area hospitals.
The hospital chaplain program was instituted in 1962 and a chapel in the hospital was completed in 1963.
The hospital was expanded in 1963 to create more space for the emergency room, radiology and Cobalt-60 units.
In 1964, the racial barrier was dropped in Roanoke, allowing integration of medical staff and patient facilities.
The area’s first ICU was opened at RMH with eight beds in 1966. An intensive care neurological unit followed in 1968 and a pediatric ICU in 1985. Respiratory ICU, respiratory neurosurgery and neurological ICUs began during the 1970s.
In 1969, RMH was one of the first facilities to use ventilators on babies; the concept was so cutting-edge that Life Magazine featured a story about the hospital’s neonatology efforts. The first NICU opened in 1979.
The Roanoke Memorial Hospital Rehabilitation Center
Also in 1962, outpatient clinics were moved to the Rehabilitation Center, located nearby the main RMH facility.
The clinics had grown from 20 specialties in 1960 to 43 specialties by 1983. The center was expanded in 1972 to include a psychiatric unit, in 1976 for a long-term nursing floor and again in 1986.
Construction of West Pavilion
In the late 1960s, Roanoke Memorial Hospital was licensed for about 500 beds. Another 225 beds were added in 1971 when the $15 million, 15-story West Pavilion was dedicated.
The Flood of 1985
The hospital’s location near the Roanoke River and Crystal Spring Reservoir made it susceptible to flooding. The flood of 1985 was catastrophic.
Water surrounded the building, making it inaccessible by ground for several hours.
Muddy floodwater inundated the basement of the West Pavilion and stood four feet deep on the ground floor. For several hours, hospital engineers and others worked in vain to fill sandbags and stop the rising water.
Vital electric circuits shorted out. Lights were out and medical equipment shut down. When generators were activated, every available extension cord was used to restore essential services.
A baby was born by flashlight. Staff and employees bedded down in the school of nursing dormitory and the Ronald McDonald house.
Trays of hot food were passed via a human chain down stairwells to get patients at least one hot meal a day.
Hospital crews worked 24 hours a day for 10 straight days to clean up the mess and return a semblance of order and routine to the facility.
Throughout the ordeal, Life-Guard 10 rescued an estimated 225 people who had been stranded in trees, on rooftops, factory buildings, telephone poles and other places threatened by water.
When word circulated that the hospital was endangered, off-duty employees, students, relatives of employees and area citizens came to rescue and volunteer.
Stay tuned for more Carilion history!
