Witham Memorial Hospital is really the flagship hospital under the Witham Health Services Umbrella…read more Located in Lebanon, Indiana, Witham Memorial Hospital was first established in 1915 with a grant by Flavius J. Witham and family. By 1917, the hospital had been built and stayed in the same location until 2003 when a brand new 128,000 square feet facility was constructed at a different location in Lebanon.
While I've made many meaningful stops on my Tenderness Tour events, few have been as meaningful as my stop at Witham Memorial Hospital where, in fact, I was born in 1965.
Witham was and is a county hospital. As evidence of my future attention-seeking behaviors, my birth made the local newspaper when my parents' car broke down on the way to Witham and they were assisted by a small town police officer nicknamed Barney Fife.
Seriously.
Having been born with spina bifida, 1965 Witham was ill-equipped for a child with my serious health issues and within hours I would be transferred to Marion County General (which became Wishard and now Eskenazi).
However, as someone who has long outlived my life expectancy I've always been fully aware that it all began with the loving and quality care I received at birth even in a hospital not equipped to serve me.
Present day Wishard has expanded beyond the hospital and offers services in Boone, Clinton, and Montgomery Counties of Indiana. While they certainly are still not as equipped some of Indy's more comprehensive medical centers, Witham has definitely grown and their new facility is quite beautiful.
They offer emergency services, women's services, inpatient/outpatient, surgery, rehabilitation, and offer a wide variety of services including in many of the areas I continue to need including neurology, urology, ortho, wound care, and many others.
Witham has a 95,000 square foot medical office building attached to the hospital. It's considered a short-term acute care hospital and has 96 beds. They have an area on their grounds for memorials - an option I seriously considered having had a daughter who passed away.
Started, quite literally, with a $15,000 donation, Witham Memorial Hospital has grown into a remarkable facility yet continues to possess a sense of small town values and shows remarkable compassion. As I returned for a a visit and a symbol of their compassion and expertise, I fell in love with the place all over again.