UNC Health Johnston Celebrates 75 Years
From Our CEO
This year is our 75th anniversary, and I’m excited to celebrate what makes UNC Health Johnston stand out. I’ve worked in large hospitals and academic medical centers, but hospitals like ours are special because we’re steeped in the communities we serve.
Our patients are our neighbors, people we go to church with, and see in the grocery store. Since our hospital’s opening day, Dec. 15, 1951, generations of families have relied on us for care. Many of our teammates grew up locally and chose to stay and work here, a homegrown commitment that’s special, too.
As an organization, we’re always striving to provide quality care. Just recently, we earned Leapfrog 'A' safety grades at both campuses—an accomplishment we celebrated with every department.
To our neighbors, patients, and families, thank you for trusting us for 75 years. We have much to celebrate, and even more to look forward to in the years ahead.
75 Years of Caring Timeline
For 75 years, UNC Health Johnston has grown alongside the communities it is proud to serve. What began as a shared vision for a modern public hospital has become a lasting legacy of compassionate care, innovation and service to generations of families. This timeline celebrates the people, partnerships and defining moments that shaped our journey—and continue to inspire our future.
2026 – UNC Health Johnston breaks ground on a $122 million expansion in Clayton. Plans call for building a three-story bed tower and adding space for the lab and emergency departments. With successful applications for state Certificates of Need now in hand, the hospital is moving forward with plans to add 35 acute-care beds in Clayton and 28 in Smithfield, bringing the total to 118 and 151, respectively.
2025 – UNC Health acquires full ownership of UNC Health Johnston, a transaction that provides the hospital with easier access to capital as it moves forward with more than $100 million worth of expansions—all to keep pace with the growing demand on services. Other advantages include help with recruiting physicians and other health workers and ease of working with other hospitals such as UNC Health Rex.
2021 – Johnston Health and UNC Rex Healthcare enter a joint operating agreement. The following year, the hospital updates its brand, identity and logo, visually solidifying its connection to the broader UNC Health system. Its new name is UNC Health Johnston.
2015 – With the addition of 50 inpatient beds, Johnston Health Clayton becomes a community hospital offering expanded services, including labor and delivery. Thousands attend a grand-opening celebration in January.
2014 – Johnston Health and UNC Health Care finalize a strategic joint venture agreement, which provides funding for an expansion in Clayton. The hospital is renamed Johnston Health, and the outpatient center becomes Johnston Health Clayton.
2013 – Following 18 months of study and deliberation, the Johnston Health Board of Commissioners selects UNC Health Care as a strategic partner. In Clayton, work begins to transform the outpatient center into a full-service, 50-bed hospital.
2011 – Urologists and OB/GYN specialists are the first at Johnston Health to use the new da Vinci robotic system. Surgeons can perform the most complex and delicate procedures through small incisions and with unmatched precision. Patients benefit by having less pain, less blood loss and less scarring.
2010 – In January, Johnston Medical Center-Smithfield opens its five-story replacement hospital, increasing capacity to 199 beds. In April, after the completion of a $4.5 million capital campaign, the Johnston Health Foundation celebrates the opening of the 18-bed SECU Hospice House in Smithfield.
2009 – In September, thousands attend the grand opening of Johnston Medical Center-Clayton. The project also includes a 60,000-square-foot medical office building. Along with private medical practices, Johnston Professional Plaza houses the hospital’s medical and radiation oncology services.
2008 – The Hospital Authority issues $144 million in government-insured mortgage revenue bonds for its largest capital expansion to date: a replacement hospital in Smithfield and an outpatient center with a freestanding emergency department in Clayton. In June, the hospital breaks ground on both projects. The organization changes its corporate name to Johnston Health, and the campuses are named Johnston Medical Center-Smithfield and Johnston Medical Center-Clayton.
2006 – The hospital demolishes the Rose-Hooks Annex, originally a nurses’ residence, to make room for the central energy plant needed to power the new patient tower.
2003 – The former Burlington Industries plant across the street from the hospital is renovated into Johnston Medical Mall. It opens with HealthQuest Fitness and Wellness Center and Johnston Cancer Center. Two years later, they’re joined by the Early Learning Center, Wound Care, Ambulatory Imaging, Cyber Café and Resource Management. Meanwhile in Clayton, the hospital leases space along U.S. 70 for an outpatient surgery center.
2002 – After contracting with a mobile service for five years, the hospital opens its own diagnostic heart catheterization lab. Under the leadership of Dr. Eric Janis, the hospital’s longest-serving cardiologist, the lab began offering interventional procedures in 2015.
2001 – The hospital’s 50th anniversary coincides with the opening of the new Women’s Pavilion and Same Day Surgery department—a $13 million expansion. Other areas renovated were radiology, endoscopy and the physician’s lounge.
1998 – In one of the busiest summers of ribbon cuttings, the hospital opened a cardiopulmonary rehab center on ground floor, the Johnston Cancer Center (with Dr. Russell Anderson) in a mobile unit behind the hospital, and a 22,000-square-foot emergency department, a sister facility to the Johnston County Health Department adjoining the hospital.
1994 –The Medical Arts Pavilion opens next door to the hospital. The first tenant was Mohammed & Lippitt Urology. Dr. Adel Mohammed, who opened his solo practice in 1975, continues to work full time.
1992 – At the request of Johnston County Commissioners, the hospital assumes leadership for the county’s home health agency, Johnston County Home Care. It also revives the county’s hospice program, Hospice of Johnston County, which had been inactive for more two years. Both of those services continue today.
1992 –Johnston Memorial Hospital Foundation is established. Its first major project: To raise $50,000 for exercise equipment for the cardiopulmonary rehab center. Johnston Health Foundation continues to work closely with the hospital to support patient needs.
1989 –A new eight-station dialysis center opens inside the hospital.
1987 – The hospital purchases its first CAT scanner, adds a consulting neurologist and EEG and EMG equipment, introduces laser surgery and a breast cancer detection center. Hospital-owned family care practices open in Princeton and a year later in Clayton and Kenly.
1986 – A $10 million expansion and renovation was completed. It included a new east wing made up of an intensive care unit, emergency room, labor and delivery and newborn nursery, and all new or refurbished private rooms. A new helicopter ambulance service called Life Flights began for patients who needed to be airlifted to larger hospitals for specialized care.
1983 –Trustees lease the old nurses’ residence building to the Johnston County Public Health Department for its home health program.
1979 –Johnston Technical Institute (now Johnston Community College) begans a two-year registered nursing program in March. The hospital is one of its clinical training sites.
1974 – The hospital and Johnston County partner to build a 22,120-square-foot mental health center featuring a 20-bed inpatient unit and an outpatient clinic.
1969 –In May, a five-bed intensive care unit for the critically ill opens on second floor of the west wing. Drs. E.H. Alderman, Kaissar Ibrahim and Woodrow Batten work together to set up policies. Dr. Batten, an internist, would continue to practice well into his 90s.
1968 – Joe F. Nations, an inhalation therapist, introduced “breathing therapy” to the hospital. These health workers later became known as respiratory therapists.
1966 – Visitors from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare came to the hospital in May. Subsequently, the hospital was directed to comply with the federal government’s Title VI regulations to make patient assignments routinely on a first come, first served basis. In July, the hospital was able to begin admitting patients under Medicare guidelines.
1965 – A south-wing expansion adds 30 beds, bringing the total to 162.
1964 –Hospital trustees established a hospital auxiliary, whose members, called the Pink Ladies, helped with a variety of tasks. They oversaw youth volunteers called Candy Stripers and other adult volunteers called the Gray Ladies. The Pink Ladies raised money for equipment, stuffed envelopes for billing, operated a patient-supply cart with toiletries and books borrowed from the library and delivered mail and ice water to patient rooms.
1958 – A first floor renovation and a 32-bed addition was completed on the north wing. Trustees added air conditioning. Schools of medical and X-ray technology began in the hospital.
1955 – An X-ray therapy suite was completed.
1951 – With construction complete, the 100-bed hospital holds a dedication ceremony on Nov. 11, Armistice Day. The new hospital was to stand as a memorial to all Johnstonians who lost their lives in World Wars I and II. By September 1952, all five floors of the hospital are in full use.
1949 – A committee selects a site for Johnston Memorial Hospital, and construction begins that summer on the five-story, T-shaped building, and an adjacent nurses’ residence.
1948 – Johnston County voters approve a referendum authorizing $275,000 in borrowing to build a 100-bed hospital in Smithfield. Federal and state funds cover most of the $1.25 million cost to build and equip the hospital. During the bond campaign, supporters enlist movie star Ava Gardner and popular North Carolina bandleader Kay Kyser to endorse the project.
1947 – In the years following World War II, a grassroots movement takes shape in Johnston County to build a newer, larger public hospital—one that would attract doctors, offer modern equipment and expanded space, and serve all residents. Leaders from across the county begin planning the project.
