Hospital celebrates 50th year

February marked Alleghany Memorial Hospital's 50th anniversary.

The hospital opened Feb. 5, 1951 with 20 patient beds. Longtime and former employees agree the hospital has come a long way since then. They tell of lean years and times when staff members, being few, had to be very versatile.

According to a release from the hospital, a group of Alleghany County citizens formed AMH as a private, non-profit corporation in the late 1940s. Their mission was to develop a hospital to "take care of our family, friends and neighbors locally."

Original board members were R. Floyd Crouse, R.J. Randolph, Fred G. Weaver, Lonnie Edwards, Isom Wagoner, Edd Pugh, George Royal, Kyle Edwards, Phil Hanes, Christine Gray, Albert Richardson, Marion Joines, Ernest Edwards, Pearl Fields, J.C. Gambill, Mack Woodie, Edwin Duncan and D.F. Sturdivant.

"We started out raising funds and taking pledges, from a dollar on up to $100," said Ernest Edwards. "We started out from scratch from interested people." He said the land was donated by Garfield Edwards and B.O. Choate.