Hospital history
Since 1955, we have continued to expand our facilities and medical practices so that we can serve the Greater Spruce Pine area better. Read on to learn about our journey to a brighter healthcare future in Mitchell County.
Longstanding hospital resource in Spruce Pine
Blue Ridge Regional Hospital has proudly served Mitchell, Yancey, lower Avery and upper McDowell counties as a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital since 1955.
It was the strong commitment of the community that made building our Spruce Pine facility possible. With a projected cost of $400,000, citizens of the surrounding communities quickly banded together and raised $140,000, with $33,000 raised in a single day.
Several area employers reported 100 percent participation in fundraising, with many people who couldn’t give money giving blood in the “Save a Life and Build a Hospital” effort. When employees of certain companies contributed blood, employers made monetary contributions to the building fund. On a day set aside for the donations, 227 people gave blood, raising $1,135 toward the hospital campaign.
Children even got involved, with many weaving potholders and selling them to benefit the hospital building fund. In all, more than 2,500 people made contributions totaling near $100,000, and by the end of September 1953, the North Carolina Medical Care Commission approved a hospital for Mitchell County. In December 1955, we admitted our first patient, a child needing a tonsillectomy.
As time went on, we invested in ourselves and continued to congruently grow our facilities and medical capabilities. In addition to the hospital, our campus includes the Mauzy-Phillips Center, a two-story, 30,000-square-foot medical office building that includes primary care physician services, general surgery, endoscopy, wound care, orthopedics, laboratory services, X-ray, an in-house pharmacy and endoscopy suites.
Across our campus, we are able to offer a variety of medical services, such as:
- Acute care inpatient observation
- Cancer services
- Cardiology
- Critical care
- Emergency services
- Family medicine
- Fitness center
- General surgical services
- Imaging tests:
- Computerized tomography (CT) scans
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Mammography
- Nuclear medicine
- Obstetrics and gynecology
- Orthopedics
- Outpatient infusion and chemotherapy
- Pain management
- Pediatrics
- Postpartum care
- Prenatal care
- Rehabilitation services
- Swing bed services
- Wound care