Hospital celebrates 120th anniversary

Willamette Valley Medical Center will kick off its celebration of 120 years of health care in McMinnville with an event at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 16.

Speakers will talk about the history of hospital care in McMinnville and the future of WVMC at the celebration in the hospital, 2700 S.E. Stratus Ave.

WVMC grew out of a hospital started by a pair of doctors in 1904. Its first location was a house near downtown. It moved to a building at the Adams and Baker junction and was replaced by the current facility in the mid-1990s.

Hospital CEO Michael Mulkey said WVMC, part of LifePoint Health’s Western Division, is an acute care center with 60 licensed beds, including six beds in the ICU, seven in the joint replacement clinic and the others in medical/surgical units. It also has 10 beds in its senior behavioral health unit; people stay an average of seven days in the latter, then become outpatients. It is one of McMinnville’s largest employers. Many nurses and other staff members have worked there for 10, 20 or more years.

It offers a broad range of services, including medical/surgical, emergency, intensive care, X-rays, the cancer center, an operating room, orthopedics and bariatrics, wound care, cardiac cath care and general care.