Origins Pitt Community Hospital (PCH), the precursor to Pitt County Memorial Hospital, was the vision of Greenville physician, Charles Laughinghouse. In 1923, he and three other physicians raised $85,000 to build the privately owned PCH. The hospital created a relationship with East Carolina Teachers' Training School. The first home of PCH came in 1924. It was temporarily located in Downtown Greenville, above H.L. Hodges' Hardware Store, at 210 East Fifth Street. On September 7, 1923, more than 800 people attended a reception honoring the hospital. The first night, Pitt County had its first surgical operation, an
appendectomy. PCH made its first move to a permanent home at the intersection of Johnston and Woodlawn Streets, east of downtown. The three-story hospital had 42 beds and two full-time physicians, with 16 nurses.
Early expansions By 1934, the hospital was renamed Pitt General Hospital and a children's ward was added.
X-ray and laboratory equipment and eight more beds were added in two new wings. In 1940, the county commissioners made plans to purchase Pitt General Hospital, but
World War II interrupted the plans. The
Hill-Burton Act of 1946 provided the stimulus to construct a new hospital. Pitt County voters approved a $351,900 bond issue in 1947 to help with construction. A tract of land on the western edge of town was donated by the Jesse Moye family. Construction began on March 21, 1949. A few weeks before, on January 18,
Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall spoke at the dedication. A larger rehabilitation center and the first class of the four-year medical students also started that year. A
neonatal intensive care unit was established and
East Carolina University (ECU) opened the Family Practice Center in 1978. A year later, a
cardiac catheterization lab opened. The first
kidney transplant was performed here in 1981 and the 138-bed West tower opened a year later. The hospital performed its first
open heart surgery in 1984. PCMH came under the umbrella of
University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina (UHS) in 1999; UHS manages or owns eight hospitals in eastern North Carolina. That year, the hospital employed 4,150. EastCare purchased its second helicopter and the hospital began construction of a four-story emergency department with a roof helipad that year. ECU Health Medical Center was designated a
Primary Stroke Center in 2007 by the Joint Commission. It is the only primary stroke center east of
Interstate 95 in North Carolina. The East Carolina Heart Institute at ECU Health Medical Center, a way to reshape cardiovascular health in the state, was opened in 2009. That year, the hospital employed 7,373. The hospital started operation on a
Gamma knife system to help treat
brain cancer in 2013. It is one of two in the state. == ECU Health Cancer Center ==