Hospital celebrates 100th anniversary

Nancy Hurrelbrinck

Celebrating the hospital's 100th anniversary June 3, Medical Center employees gathered under a big white tent to listen to a live swing band, nibble on fried chicken and fruit salad, examine medical artifacts, and hear the hospital's accomplishments touted by President John T. Casteen III, Sen. Emily Couric and others.

"This is a day for recommitting ourselves to the level of care we provide, as well as our service to the region and the nation,"
Casteen said, praising the staff's "deep dedication to the care or patients" and the medical faculty's cutting-edge research in several fields.

State Sen. Emily Couric presented Senate Joint Resolution No. 498, commending the hospital's and the School of Nursing's contributions to the community over the past 100 years.

Casteen and Robert W. Cantrell, vice president and provost for health sciences, outlined the hospital's history.

Cantrell noted that, in the 1890s, there were enough physicians, but people who needed intensive care had to travel to Washington or Richmond or be cared for at home. "Doctors traveled on horseback, and operations were done on kitchen tables by the light of a kerosene lamp," he said.

Dr. Peyton E. Weary, a retired dermatology professor who graduated from the medical school in 1955, received the Walter Reed Distinguished Service Award, given by the Medical Alumni Association in recognition of his contributions to his field.

A number of medical relics were on display, some buried in the multi-story addition's cornerstone in 1958, others planted in a 1986 time capsule. Among the artifacts displayed in cases were a Civil War surgeon's medical kit, complete with a large saw; medicines in small cork-stoppered bottles; and photographs of some of the hospital's first physicians and nurses.