Dartmouthâ€"Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) is the U.S. state of New Hampshire's only academic medical center. It is headquartered in Lebanon, New Hampshire on a 225-acre (91 ha) campus in the heart of the Upper Connecticut River Valley. DHMC is New Hampshire's only Level I Trauma Center, one of only three in northern New England, and it includes New Hampshire's only air ambulance service.
Facilities
DHMC consists of several facilities:
Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital (MHMH) has a 396-inpatient bed capacity and serves as a major tertiary-care referral site for northern New England. MHMH is one of 14 members of the New England Alliance for Health, a regional network of hospitals and other health care organizations in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts that share a common commitment to finding cost-effective and innovative ways to meet the health care needs of each member's community.
Also making up DHMC are the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic, a network of more than 900 primary and specialty care physicians located throughout New Hampshire and Vermont; Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, one of America's oldest and most respected medical schools; and the Veterans Affairs Regional Medical and Office Center at White River Junction, Vermont.
DHMC is also home to the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD), New Hampshire's only children's hospital, and the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, one of only 40 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the nation.
Finally, DHMC is home to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team (DHART). DHART crews provide ground and air medical transportation services to the medical communities of northern New England. In addition, DHART flight crews respond to public safety agency requests for medical evacuation of trauma patients from scenes of injury, and will transport to the closest trauma center in the region.
History
1797: Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) was founded by Dr. Nathan Smith. It is the fourth-oldest medical school in the country. In 2012 Dartmouth renamed the school the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in honor of Audrey and Theodor Geisel.
1893: Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital (MHMH) was built by Hiram Hitchcock in memory of his wife, Mary Maynard Hitchcock.
1927: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic (DHC) was established by a group of five physicians.
1938: The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont, opened.
1980s: Dartmouthâ€"Hitchcock Medical Center began planning for a new facility. Construction of the $228 million project began in 1988 on a 225-acre (91 ha) wooded site in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
1991: On October 5, 1991, the new DHMC facility opened for business. One of the few completely new medical centers in the country, the complex is designed for patient convenience and comfort with an ambience of warmth and openness. Behind the scenes all of the systems necessaryâ€"computer, technical equipment, communications and interactive videoâ€"handle the demands of modern medicine.
2004: In August 2004, the new Doctors Office Building opened (now named the Faulkner Building), increasing the campus size by 40 percent.
2010: The Outpatient Surgery Center opened in 2010, adding 41,000 square feet (3,800Â m2) just a short distance from the main complex.
Notes
External links
- Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
- Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC)
- Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD)
- Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
- Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team (DHART)
