History of Atrium Health Floyd

On July 19, 1942, the Rome News-Tribune reported that 27 patients were admitted to Floyd County Hospital in its first week, four of them newborns. New parents were showered with gifts from Rome-area merchants.  

A few years later, World War II ended and the baby boom began. By 1946, 808 babies were born at Floyd County Hospital. By the end of its first decade, Floyd Hospital had admitted 42,356 patients and welcomed the birth of 6,178 babies.  

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By 1966, the hospital’s footprint expanded outside the hospital campus as Floyd Hospital became the ambulance provider for Floyd County. A year later, Floyd trained the area’s first emergency medical technicians registered by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Within four years, the ambulance service had recorded 25,000 trips, totaling 900,000 miles. 

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In 1971, the Floyd Hospital Auxiliary, a league of volunteers, formed to commit their time and talents to serve Floyd and its patients.  

Floyd also became the site for regional, in-service continuing education. Floyd established the Family Practice Residency Program just five years later.  

In 1977, Floyd Hospital changed its name to Floyd Medical Center, a change that reflected the growth in size, services and technology now available. In 1979, the surgery department was expanded, and a new medical/surgical intensive care unit was built. 

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The 1980s saw rapid growth and an expanded footprint for Floyd Medical Center as Rome and Floyd County focused heavily on business and industry.  

In 1981, Floyd Medical Center became the first trauma center designated by the state of Georgia. Floyd’s Level II trauma services established the hospital as a referral center for patients across northwest Georgia with complex trauma care needs. A new Floyd tradition, the Love Light Tree, made its holiday debut the same year.  

Floyd Home Health Agency was acquired in 1984, and the provision of non-emergency transport services through Emergency Medical Services began. Floyd Medical Center introduced computed tomography (CT) scanning technology, opened the oncology unit, added computed sonography, and entered a partnership to purchase and operate a mobile lithotripter to treat kidney stones. 

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In the 1990s, Floyd’s reach into other communities included the establishment of satellite ambulance stations throughout Floyd County and the opening of My House, a five-bedroom “home away from home” for out-of-town families of trauma and cancer patients.  

Urgent Care & Occupational Medicine – Rome opened in October 1993. In 1994, the Centrex Primary Care Network was established with 26 physicians and two advanced practice providers in 15 locations.   

In 1996, the special care nursery earned designation as a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and Floyd Healthcare Foundation established the Good Samaritan Volunteer of the Year award and the Focus on the Future fundraising campaign.  

The introduction of service standards — privacy, responsiveness, environment, attitude, co-worker commitment and communication — created a culture of accountability, positivity, and reward and recognition. Floyd also instituted the WOW! program to recognize and reward service excellence. 

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The 2000s brought the opening of a new Family Birth Center, the introduction of a subtle and smile-inducing Brahms’ lullaby played over Floyd’s intercom system each time a new baby was born, and the first employee recognition gala event, later named Celebration of Service.  

The Shorter Medical Arts Center became home to outpatient imaging, pediatric rehabilitation, The Women’s Center and Floyd Family Medicine Residency. In 2002, a 60th anniversary celebration included a community-wide picnic at Ridge Ferry Park, complete with fireworks and a truck giveaway. The year 2004 brought the rebranding of all services from hospital and outpatient services to the Primary Care network under one name: Floyd. 

Floyd’s emphasis on culture and employee engagement earned the hospital recognition as having the most satisfied employees in Georgia and being among the top 20% of organizations in the country as well as earning a Compass Award from Press Ganey Associates for patient satisfaction. Floyd also was recognized as Large Hospital of the Year by the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals. 

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In 2011, Floyd opened a new Urgent Care Center in Centre, Alabama, and became a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Floyd Emergency Medical Services added a station at Polk Medical Center in 2012. In 2013, Floyd opened a new Primary Care and Urgent Care Center in Rockmart. And in 2015, Floyd began renovating the intensive care unit, which expanded the ICU and incorporated the critical care unit into the ICU.  

The second half of the decade brought management of the Floyd and Polk school nurse programs, the management of a third hospital, the Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Alabama, and the addition of emergency medical services to Cherokee County. The decade ended with the 2019 signing of a letter of intent to strategically combine with Atrium Health, a multi-hospital health care system based in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

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A new decade debuted with Floyd’s pursuit of a strategic combination with Atrium Health and an unexpected, unprecedented rapid response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Within weeks, as COVID-19 patient numbers rose, the first floor of a two-level physician parking deck on the Floyd Medical Center campus was turned into a field hospital, equipped to handle up to 100 additional patients. Although the field hospital never had to be used for its original intention, it later became the site for COVID-19 testing and vaccines.  

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