|
|
|
|
| Name |
Androscoggin Valley Hospital |
| Address |
59 Page Hill Road |
| |
| Town |
Berlin |
| State |
New Hampshire |
| Country |
USA |
| Post Code |
03570 |
| Phone |
603 752 2200 |
| Fax |
|
| Email |
| Website |
YES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Specialization Of Androscoggin Valley Hospital
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Obestetrician/Gynecologist |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Androscoggin Valley Hospital
** Androscoggin Valley Hospital Mission Statement **
The mission of AVH is outlined in the following statement. The specific purpose of the hospital shall be
* To establish, support, manage, and furnish facilities, personnel, and
services to provide diagnostic, surgical and hospital care, extended care,
outpatient care, home care, effective management of pain, and other medically
related services to persons in need without regard to race, creed, color,
gender, sexual orientation, national origin, handicap, or ability to pay.
* To assume a leadership role in helping to ensure the good health of the
community through activities related to rendering healthcare services and the
promotion of health, which, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, may be
justified by the facilities, personnel, funds, or other requirements that are
or can be made available.
* To foster within the organization a set of values that includes integrity,
compassion, belief in the dignity of human beings, respect for individual
differences, and a commitment to service for the welfare of the community.
* To provide health education programs to encourage adoption of health-
promoting behavior and to foster a safe, healthy community environment.
* To promote a culture within the organization that fosters widespread
commitment to continuously improving the quality of care and services and
that instills in each employee a sense of pride and ownership.
* To engage in any and all activities consistent with or in furtherance of the
above purposes.
** Androscoggin Valley Hospital Vision Statement **
Androscoggin Valley Hospital will be a regional provider of high quality, diversified primary and specialized medical services to northern New Hampshire and to Coos County in particular. We intend to accomplish this by maintaining a consistent focus on our patients and their needs, by continuously striving to improve services, by investing in our employees and the community, and by involving both in decisions affecting the provision of health care.
|
| |
History Of Androscoggin Valley Hospital
** History of Androscoggin Valley Hospital **
Berlin’s first health care facility, the “Hospital St. Louis,” opened in 1905 under the direction of the Sisters of Charity with room for 15 patients. It was named for Reverend Louis M. LaPlante, pastor of St. Anne’s parish, who had pursued the project since his arrival in 1899. He saw the need for a place to care for the sick and injured, and donated a house and land next to the church for the hospital. The house was formerly the Cascade House, a summer hotel built in 1877.
Fr. LaPlante obtained initial approval from the Bishop of Manchester to have the hospital headed by the Sisters of Charity and then proceeded to St. Hyacinth, Quebec, to discuss it with the Sisters. They agreed to come to Berlin to manage the newly found hospital.
Two years later when Father LaPlante wanted to donate the hospital to the Sisters, they chose to raise $1,000 as a purchase price and presented it to him on October 9, 1907.\
In 1909, St. Louis Hospital was incorporated under the laws of the State of New Hampshire and became a definite unit of the order of the Sisters of Charity.
In 1912 when the new St. Regis Academy was being built, the old wooden structure was cut in thirds. One section was added to the hospital and renovated. This provided room for up to 50 patients. Further renovations took place over the years and at the time of Berlin’s centennial celebration in 1929, the hospital accommodated 63 patients.
In 1927, the St. Louis Hospital School of Nursing was founded to meet the area’s needs for professional nurses. The school continued until 1972 when it closed due to a decline in clinical experience required by the students. Over 345 nurses had graduated from the school.
The American College of Surgeons first approved St. Louis Hospital in 1927. This approval was retained through 1953 when the ACS transferred its authority for approval to the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Hospitals. Since then the hospital has continued to be accredited by JCAH.
As the Berlin area continued to grow, its medical needs increased. In 1937, the Sisters of Charity made the decision to add a three-story addition to the hospital at a cost of $80,000, increasing bed capacity to 98. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the final wing occurred in May 1954. The new building cost $1,000,000 and was designed to increase patient beds to 125. The mortgage funds were obtained by the Sisters.
After construction began, a fund raising campaign was started to raise $36,500 for equipment and furnishings, which netted over $55,000 in pledges. The new wing was completed and dedicated in the summer of 1955 at special ceremonies marking the hospital’s fiftieth anniversary.
On July 1, 1971, the ownership and administrative control of the hospital was transferred from the Sisters of Charity to a community-based nonprofit corporation. Thus, St. Louis Hospital became the Androscoggin Valley Hospital.
The need to renovate the aging facility or to totally replace it was evident at that time. Four years later, the plans for an entirely new hospital facility to be located a mile and a half north of the present hospital were approved. Spurred by the most successful fund raising effort ever undertaken in the Berlin area bringing in $1,200,000 in pledges, groundbreaking took place on September 11, 1976. Construction continued over the next two years and was completed in November, 1978.
Dedication for the new AVH took place on November 26, 1978, with ceremonies attended by some 2,000 persons. A keynote speaker from the Center for Small and Rural Hospitals for the American Hospital Association said AVH had adopted “some of the most advanced concepts in health care in the nation.”
The modern 84-bed facility opened to patients on December 16, 1978. Much advance planning was considered to make the new building flexible and expandable in all directions. This gives assurance to the community that the new AVH need not suffer a future crisis from inability to change with the times.
On January 1, 2006 Androscoggin Valley Hospital became one of the last of New Hampshire’s 13 eligible rural hospitals to become a Critical Access Hospital.
Congress created the Critical Access Hospital Program in 1997 to support small rural hospitals that have been hit hard by the exploding cost of health care. Central to that piece of legislation was a new method of Medicare reimbursement. A CAH would be reimbursed more closely to the actual cost of care rather than the traditional “prospective payment” system, which uses a complicated formula based on a hospital’s financial data and Medicare’s allowable costs.
|
|
Back To List
|
|
|
|
