WEST READING, Pa.- The Reading Hospital is celebrating a century of being at its current location.
“We have tremendous technology at Reading Hospital,” says Reading Hospital President & CEO Dr. Charles Barbera.
“All the latest advances in treating patients and diagnosing disease, but also, we have history,” he said.
The hospital began in 1868 as the Reading Dispensary.
“It first was located in just a regular row home on Court Street. Three floors,” says Barbera.
“The first floor was the clinic, the second floor was where patients stayed, and the third floor was where the nurse lived,” he added.
About 20 years later, it moved to northwest Reading, and in 1926, the Reading Hospital was built on its current campus. The founders of the Reading Public Museum founded the hospital.
The design included a 24-carat-gold-topped clock tower that would serve as a beacon for the community. Inside, one central clock using a century-old mechanism operates the four faces of the clock tower.
“Really, it was to serve the people that were coming to Reading to work in the Knitting Mills,” says Barbera.
“As we all know, Reading was known as the outlet capital of the world. We did a lot of textiles at the time, and the railroad and this hospital was made to serve those people,” he explained.
Many advancements have been made since the days of the three-room accident dispensary.
The Reading Hospital now operates a level-one trauma unit, the only one in Berks County. It continues to add services and care for the growing needs of the community.
“At Reading Hospital, we’re not one to rest on our laurels,” says Barbera.
“We know we have an obligation to be here another 158 years. This campus has served us very well; we don’t intend on leaving it, but we know that we need to make advances in technology, in workforce, in quality, so that we can continue to serve this community for another 100 years,” he added.