Published January 16, 2025
This year Westerly Hospital celebrates its 100th anniversary – that’s 36,525 days of patient-centered care, including the past nine years as part of Yale New Haven Health.
“Westerly Hospital is the epitome of what it means to be a community hospital,” said Rich Lisitano, president of L+M and Westerly hospitals. “From its earliest days, history tells us that neighbors were caring for neighbors, friends helping friends. That essence of community still defines the compassionate care delivered each day.”
An example of that care came when hospital staff risked their own lives to help patients during a deadly storm that struck without warning – the infamous Hurricane of 1938. Many doctors, nurses and support staff came to the hospital on foot, often climbing over downed trees to ensure they could be there to care for the injured.
The idea for a hospital in Westerly germinated in the early 1900s, when the community set out to raise $250,000 to construct a building for a hospital. Support for the project outstripped everyone’s predictions, with $800,000 raised to begin building.
Westerly Hospital added a new inpatient wing in 1964, and the 1980s saw improvements to the Emergency Department and construction of four new operating rooms, an intensive care unit, a large laboratory and an ambulatory care unit. Recent investments include a new cardiac catheterization lab, $4 million pharmacy and dedicated Geriatric Psychiatry unit.
Westerly Hospital includes 125 inpatient beds with more than 700 employees and 300 physicians.
