Celebrating 40 Years of Healthcare Excellence
On Monday, July 6, 1970, Northside Hospital opened its doors and treated its first patient in its newly constructed 245-bed, five story facility approximately 15 miles north of downtown Atlanta. In just 40 short years, Northside has grown along with the Metro Atlanta community into one of Atlanta’s largest and most respected health care systems. The Northside healthcare system now consists of three community hospitals and 29 outpatient service locations across North Metro Atlanta. The system employs nearly 7,000 employees, has more than 2,000 physicians on its medical staff and realizes more than 700,000 patient encounters per year.
“Northside Hospital’s rapid growth and progressive outlook have allowed us to keep pace with the community’s ongoing health care needs,” says Bob Quattrocchi, President and CEO. “It’s a never-ending task serving this vital and dynamic area of ours. I know the community will call on us for even more services in the future. Northside Hospital is planning for that future today.”
A Leader in Metro Atlanta Healthcare
For 14 consecutive years, Northside Hospital has been voted by Metro Atlanta consumers as the Most Preferred Hospital for Overall Healthcare Services and it has received the Consumer Choice Award for the past three years.*
Northside has long had a reputation as the leader in Maternity and Newborn services, delivering more babies than any other U.S. hospital. And, in 2009 Northside received the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Award for Distinguished Hospital in Maternity Service Excellence.
Another leadership area for Northside Hospital is Cancer Care. Northside recently became part of the National Cancer Institute’s – National Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP). This recognition places Northside among an elite national network of hospitals that are excelling in providing patients with comprehensive, leading-edge cancer care. Northside’s Cancer Care Program diagnoses and treats more cases of breast and GYN cancer than any other Metro Atlanta hospital. Additionally, The Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program at Northside is one of the largest clinical transplant programs in the southeast and was the first program in Georgia to perform unrelated-donor allogeneic bone marrow transplants. In fact, Northside has the best survival outcomes for adult-matched-unrelated-donor transplants in the United States.
Additionally, Northside Hospital performs more surgeries than at any other Georgia Hospital. In the U.S., Northside ranks in the top 5% in GYN robotic surgery and in the top 10% in Prostate Cancer robotic surgery. More than 30 surgical specialties are represented at Northside and some of the country’s leading surgeons call Northside home.
“I remain extremely impressed with Northside Hospital’s expertise in serving the medical needs of the community,” said Dr. Wayne Ambroze, Chief of the Medical Staff at Northside. “The commitment to excellence in healthcare services, facilities and the attention placed on quality, service and most importantly patient outcomes sets Northside in a class all its own. I remain proud to be among such an elite group of physicians and other highly qualified healthcare professionals.”
The Fast-Track of Growth
Northside’s founders had predicted a fast pace of growth in the northern Atlanta suburbs when they chose the site for Northside Hospital to be built. Situating the hospital campus conveniently near the I-285 perimeter highway and U.S. 19 (GA 400), they were sure the hospital would succeed. Little did they know how quickly the new hospital would grow.
By the end of the 1970s, Northside had already tripled its emergency room services; expanded maternity services and the newborn nursery; increased community education programs; constructed a four-story annex adding 98 beds and two operating rooms; doubled the size of the coronary care unit and expanded the intensive care unit.
By the mid-80s, the hospital opened its Cancer Center; added two new floors to the patient tower and renovated existing floors; added a new, five-story patient tower and added a new intensive care wing.
In 1990, with the continued growth in the Northern suburbs, Northside announced the purchase of 38 acres in Alpharetta to construct the Northside/Alpharetta Medical Campus, offering a wide-array of outpatient services and providing space for private physician groups. The first medical office building opened on the campus in 1993.
The 90s continued to be a time of tremendous growth for Northside Hospital. In 1995, Northside opened a brand new 25,000-square-foot emergency department. State approval was requested to begin construction of a 150,000-square foot Women’s Center and in 1997, construction began on the Center. Also in 1997, Northside acquired Northside Hospital-Cherokee in Canton. By the late-90s, a second medical office building was built at the Northside/Alpharetta Medical Campus and the Northside Hospital Outpatient Center at Meridian Mark in Sandy Springs was opened. In 1998, Northside purchased 39 acres at Sixes Road in Holly Springs for development of a future medical campus. The new Northside Women’s Center was completed in 1999.
The next major expansion of the Northside system came in 2002, when Northside purchased Baptist North Hospital in Cumming (now named Northside Hospital-Forsyth). This campus has more than tripled in size and scope since 2002.
In 2004, Northside purchased a Dunwoody outpatient surgery center and in 2005, opened a brand new medical office building (The Tower) on it’s main campus. Later that same year, a newly expanded Emergency Department was opened at Northside Hospital-Forsyth. Northside also purchased 50+ acres in the new Canton Place development as the site for the future replacement hospital and campus for Northside Hospital-Cherokee.
A major expansion was completed on Northside’s Women’s Center in 2007. That same year, a new multi-story surgery center was completed at Northside Hospital-Forsyth. A Pediatric Medical Office Building also was completed on the Northside/Alpharetta Medical Campus.
2008 was a milestone year for Northside as it opened the Northside Hospital-Forsyth Women’s Center, allowing the expertise and reputation of Northside’s maternity and newborn services to be more easily accessible for the extreme northern suburbs.
In 2009, Northside purchased the remaining sponsorship interest in Northside Hospital-Cherokee in Canton. The Atlanta Campus also completed a new 28-bed adult ICU.
This year, Northside completed a new 36-bed, state-of-the-art Bone Marrow Transplant/Leukemia unit. This unit is the largest single unit in the Southeast.
Continued service enhancements and facility expansions remain on the docket throughout the Northside Hospital system in order to continue to provide the necessary healthcare services to the growing north metro communities.
