Outstanding Health Care

According to the first book in this series, 1983’s Wilmington, NC, A Guide to Cape Fear Leisure, good health care was considered among the Cape Fear country’s greatest assets. One of the biggest reasons for this was (and still is) that physicians find the area attractive. Back then, some 230 doctors practiced in New Hanover County alone, offering a wide range of medical services with all common fields and most sub-specialties covered; today more than 620 are currently practicing in the New Hanover/Pender county area, including 146 women.

The main health care facility was New Hanover Memorial Hospital, located on 17th Street. A major expansion was completed in 1980, with the new 10-floor structure licensed for 527 beds. Also on the 56-acre campus were the Cameron Education Building, the New Hanover County Health Department, and the Southeastern Mental Health Center. Nearby was an apartment building for interns and residents; a number of private physicians had office buildings close to the hospital.

The excellent facilities, coupled with the ability to attract highly qualified physicians, combined to produce a level of health care that compared favorably with North Carolina’s largest cities. New Hanover Memorial Hospital became a major referral center for southeastern North Carolina and part of northeastern South Carolina. It served as a teaching hospital for internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and surgery. The hospital had educational affiliations with four medical schools, three nursing schools and other institutions of higher learning in the allied health professions such as pharmacy, physical therapy and medical technology.

New Hanover’s Largest Employer

In 1983, the hospital was the area’s fourth largest employer with 1,700 employees. As of the end of 2007, New Hanover Regional Medical Center alone had 3,786 employees. Cape Fear Hospital had 745 employees. New Hanover Regional Medical Center, as a network comprised of two hospitals and affiliated organizations, is now the largest employer in the county and region with more than 4,600 employees.

Emergency Department visits at New Hanover Memorial Hospital in 1983 numbered about 48,000, inpatient admissions were at 24,000. Statistics for 2007 show the Emergency Department tallied some 110,500 visits and inpatient admissions soared to more than 32,700.

In those days, Cape Fear Memorial Hospital was a 142-bed acute care, general, not-for-profit facility offering a wide range of hospital services including the emergency department. Popular because of its smaller size and having all private rooms, the hospital was located on the east side of Wilmington. New Hanover Regional Medical Center bought Cape Fear Memorial in 1998 and changed the name to Cape Fear Hospital, which also led to the creation of the New Hanover Health Network. The inpatient focus at Cape Fear hospital is now primarily orthopedics.

To this day, southeastern North Carolina is truly blessed to have outstanding health care services, providers, facilities and access. Rapid population growth, real estate development, new businesses and the influx of retirees have spurred major hospital expansions and attracted high caliber medical practitioners to the Greater Wilmington area, Pender and Brunswick counties.