Company Profile
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
Company Overview
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist is a pre-eminent academic health system based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist is part of Advocate Health, which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is the fourth-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, created from the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s two main components are an integrated clinical system – anchored by Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, an 885-bed tertiary-care hospital in Winston-Salem – that includes Brenner Children’s Hospital, five community hospitals, more than 300 primary and specialty care locations and more than 2,700 physicians; and Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the academic core of Atrium Health Enterprise and a recognized leader in experiential medical education and groundbreaking research that includes Wake Forest Innovations, a commercialization enterprise focused on advancing health care through new medical technologies and biomedical discovery.
Company History
A century ago, North Carolina Baptist Hospital opened with a simple commitment: to be a place of healing and teaching.
Through decades of growth, discoveries and medical firsts, our care teams remained devoted to healing those in medical need and training others to carry on that legacy. Over time, they have been committed to improving the lives of generations throughout western North Carolina and beyond.
Today, as a thriving part of one of America’s leading academic learning health systems, we continue answering the call - to give the most compassionate care to those who need us and to train future medical professionals.
As we improve health, elevate hope and advance healing - for all - we will continue to fulfill the vision of our founders in the century to come.
The hospital, now known as Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, opened its doors in May 1923. The idea of a hospital had been on the minds of the churches of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina since 1903 when an infirmary on the campus of Wake Forest College grew and expanded its care.
The convention’s annual meeting in 1919 came on the heels of a worldwide flu pandemic, and the group appointed a special commission to seek a location for North Carolina’s first Baptist hospital. The goal was to create a network of hospitals that would care for the state’s poorest and neediest patients.
The convention also intended for medical education to be a part of the new hospital’s mission, and a nursing school was established soon after the hospital opened. Medical education expanded further on the hospital’s campus in 1941 when Wake Forest College’s medical school moved from its campus in Wake Forest, N.C., to Winston-Salem.
Spiritual care was a motivating factor for the hospital’s founders and has been a hallmark of the hospital from the beginning. The hospital’s first superintendent (now known as president) was Rev. G.T. Lumpkin, a Baptist pastor who had served congregations in North Carolina and Virginia. Lumpkin was committed to providing spiritual care to patients, their families and staff. He also provided theological education to nurses to prepare them for their work in communities with local congregations.
The hospital’s original commitment to healing and teaching inspired expanded services and growth.
In the 1950s, the hospital’s educational role expanded with the development of separate schools in medical technology, cytotechnology, X-ray technology, nurse anesthesia, medical records librarians, practical nursing and pastoral counseling.
In the early 1970s, the CareNet counseling network was established to support progressive mental health counseling for people of all ages across North Carolina, becoming the largest hospital-based program of its kind in the nation.
By the 1980s, Wake Forest Baptist became widely recognized for leading care throughout western North Carolina:
The hospital was designated as a Level I Trauma Center, providing total care for every aspect of injury – from prevention through rehabilitation
Brenner Children’s Hospital opened to serve children and families throughout western North Carolina
The Cancer Center at Wake Forest Baptist received National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center
The legacy of healing and teaching has continued to inspire new ways of leading health care into the 21st century.
Spiritual care and connection has remained a strong focus. FaithHealth Ministries was organized to build partnerships with religious and community organizations to improve access to health care and the health of the community.
In 2020, Wake Forest Baptist Health and Wake Forest School of Medicine combined with Atrium Health, becoming Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, providing opportunities to break new ground in the areas of medicine, education and research.
Continuing to focus on expanding healing and teaching, in 2022, Wake Forest University School of Medicine became the academic core of Advocate Health, one of the largest health systems in the country, which was created through the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health.
Benefits
https://prodcm.wakehealth.edu/about-us/careers/benefits