Our History
The idea for Wooster Community Hospital began in 1944 when the city of Wooster started planning for a health care facility and its financing. At that time, it was determined that the city alone could not support the project. An agreement was made between the city and six townships: Chester, Clinton, East Union, Franklin, Wayne, and Wooster banded together as a joint township hospital district to construct a municipal hospital.
Wooster Community Hospital has the distinction of being the first hospital in the state of Ohio to be built through the support of a city and a joint township hospital district. Read below for a history of the progress we’ve made by expanding our facilities and adding services.
Timeline of Progress
1950: The hospital, originally designed to serve 65 patients, opened its doors to receive its first patients on March 21.
1955 and 1958: Additions were made to the 2nd-floor north and south wings and to the middle wing, where a pediatrics unit was added.
1971: The contemporary four-floor east wing was built onto the back of the original building.
1987: A new critical care unit (CCU), expanded surgery facilities, and new anesthesia facilities were added.
1992: An expansion/renovation project was completed that included a new obstetrics unit, partial new construction/renovation to expand the emergency department, cardiopulmonary services, medical records, pharmacy, business office, central registration, new entrance lobby, and auditorium.
1998: The hospital purchased an existing professional office building on Milltown Road. It houses a WCH Service Center with laboratory, radiology, and registration services, as well as leased doctor’s office space.
1999: A major construction project was completed that provided a new surgery and ambulatory care center on the ground floor to enhance customer convenience. A registration area, visitor entrance, lobby, and surgery waiting room was also created at that time. Later that year, an adjoining medical office building was constructed to occupy a number of physician practices on campus.
2003: The newly constructed HealthPoint facility, adjacent to the Milltown Professional Building off of Friendsville Road, opened for business. This building incorporates the existing rehabilitative services of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, along with a host of new specialty services including exercise science, nutrition, aquatic therapy, strength and conditioning, massotherapy, and athletic training. Bone densitometry and digital mammography services have since been included at HealthPoint.
2005: A remodeling/expansion emergency room services project was completed. Bed capacity increased from 14 to 20 beds, and we introduced the minor medical treatment option to supplement our traditional emergency services.
2006: A new two-story wing attached to the east end of the hospital was completed. OB patients from the 4th floor were moved to the new Women’s Pavilion on the ground floor, and telemetry patients from 2 South moved to the progressive care unit (PCU) on the 1st floor. This new construction provided a beautiful, contemporary, patient environment with private room accommodations.
2007: A 10-bed, ODH (Ohio Department of Health)-approved, inpatient rehabilitation unit located on the nicely remodeled 4th floor was completed. This progressive new service combines excellent nursing and intensive therapy services with the goal of helping patients transition back to regular living as quickly as possible. Conditions often requiring rehabilitation include: stroke, orthopedic surgery, neurological disorders, and arthritis. In 2008, the unit expanded to 12 beds.
2010: The hospital completed the new east patient tower, with the Women’s Pavilion, progressive care unit, and two additional patient floors. Med/Surg-2 contained traditional medical/surgical patients plus pediatrics, while Med/Surg-3 included the Joint Center. WCH staff and patients alike were delighted with the contemporary, spacious accommodations.
2013: The transitional care unit (TCU), an ODH-approved skilled care and rehabilitation service designed for relatively short-term patients (30 days or less), officially opened its doors. Some 22 private rooms now occupy the renovated former pediatrics and telemetry floor (2 South).
2016: This was another monumental year for our hospital, as we were able to start performing angioplasty and stenting on patients in our newly remodeled heart center called The Cardiovascular Institute. We added two new catheterization labs to be able to perform these procedures, so when a patient came in having a heart attack we would no longer have to transfer them out to be treated.
2017: Construction on the north wing, Outpatient Pavilion, was completed. The Outpatient Pavilion features a wide array of oncology services under one roof, including the Wooster Cancer Care practice. In addition, the ground floor features private and semi-private wellness bays (infusion suites) with a healing garden view, linear accelerator (radiation therapy), and oncology-specialized services including: CT scan, lab, and a customization mixture pharmacy specific to chemotherapy treatments. The first floor of our Outpatient Pavilion includes physician office suites. Pulmonary Medicine of Wooster was the first to move into the new space and began seeing patients there in December 2017.
2018: The Women’s Specialty Center opened in the spring of 2018. The center includes 3D mammography, ultrasound, breast biopsy and bone densitometry. The environment is tranquil, including a water feature and massage chair for patient use.
It is our goal and continuing commitment to remain a progressive, dynamic institution that provides the best possible health care to the people we serve. As we look toward the future we share an excitment over the potential that exists for ongoing growth and development.
