Pitt Community Hospital / Pitt County Memorial Hospital (PCMH)
Location:
Greenville, NC
Date Est.:
1924
Established in 1924 as Pitt Community Hospital (PCH). In 1934 it was renamed to Pitt General Hospital, and then became Pitt County Memorial Hospital in 1951 when a new expanded facility was opened in honor of the country's World War II veterans.
In 2015 it became the Vidant Medical Center, and is now the primary teaching hospital for East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine, as well as the flagship medical center for Vidant Health.
Resources
Articles and Publications
- Blackburn, M. (2001). Inspired by progress: a celebration of Pitt County Memorial Hospital's 50th anniversary. Greenville, NC: Pitt County Memorial Hospital.
- Kammerer, R. (1986, February). "Pitt's Past: A History of the First Pitt County Hospital" [column article]. Excerpt: "Dr. Charles O'Hagan Laughinghouse, Dr. Karl B. Pace, and Dr. M.T. Edgerton tried to start a hospital in 1916 by advocating a bond issue for funds. This effort failed. In 1923, Dr. Laughinghouse, Dr. Pace, Dr. E.T. Dickerson, and Dr. W.I. Wooten all mortgaged their property and borrowed money so they could build their own hospital. Their sacrifices paid off when they raised enough money to build a forty-two room private hospital. It opened on April 24, 1924, on Johnston Street in College View, with two full-time doctors. A nursing school operated there from 1923 until 1932. After the dire need arose for a facility for African Americans, the hospital officials renovated the basement to serve twelve to fifteen black patients. A children's wing was built during 1933 and 1934. The hospital was closed in 1951 after serving 42, 216 patients."
- Williams, W. C. (2001). PCMH - A Tradition of Excellence. Greenville, North Carolina: Barefoot Press.
Archives
- Drummond's Pictorial Atlas of North Carolina [Electronic Ed.] available through UNC's Documenting the American South. Page 61 has some brief information regarding Pitt Community Hospital.
- Oral histories conducted in 2000 with several retired Pitt County Memorial Hospital (PCMH) nurses in honor of PCMH's 50th anniversary. (Nursing Group / Pitt County Memorial Hospital) {box 9.28} are found in Joyner Library Special Collections at East Carolina University.
Miscellaneous
- Vidant Medical Center Wikipedia page
- March 7, 1924 issue of the Greenville, NC Daily Reflector has information about the "first graduating class of the nurses training school of the Pitt Community Hospital."
- May 16, 1931 issue of the Greenville, NC Daily Reflector has information about a graduating nursing class at Pitt Community Hospital who completed a 3 year course.
- Oct 1935 issue of Southern Hospital, an item of interest reads: "Pitt County may purchase Pitt General Hospital, Greenville, with profits from the county liquor stores. This income is not in the county budgets and could not be used to better advantages or for a better purpose."
Compiled by:
Phoebe Pollitt