Marion Star: First Patient in New Wing Has History with Marion General

The stars, the moon and the sun had to align for this story! Carolyn Sue Williams, age 3, was one of the first patients in OhioHealth Marion General Hospital’s new facility in 1955. The former Waddell Ladies Home was just too small to care for all the patients in the community, so a bond levy was passed and a new hospital opened in 1955.

She was a patient there for nearly 11 months, celebrating her fourth birthday in the brand new brand hospital.

Now, flash forward to January 2021…66 years later, (the now married) Carolyn “Sue” Layne isn’t feeling well and happens to go to Marion General, where they have JUST opened a new 60,000, three story expansion, allowing for private rooms across the hospital, and Sue is the FIRST patient in one of the 48 new rooms.

You can imagine her surprise and delight to have this happen twice in a lifetime, 66 years apart, in the same community.

Layne was in the hospital for just five days this time, saying that the room she stayed in looked like a small condo. 

The patient rooms feature a zone for families to sit that is out of the way of the patient and medical staff, a night light to help guide patients to the bathroom and recessed lighting in case a nurse or doctor wants to check on the patient when they are sleeping. 

To read the full story, click on the Marion Star logo below.