DCH celebrates 100 years in business

DCH Regional Medical Center spent the weekend celebrating its 100th anniversary of serving West Alabama.

“It’s actually at the end of March when we turn 100 years old, but we found just the right time and the right day to have this festival,” said DCH Health System Marketing and Communications Vice President Andy North.

North said DCH started as a community hospital and remains a community hospital.

“It’s really important for us to be part of the community,” he said. “In fact, DCH was founded because some concerned physicians got together with some concerned community members, started to look at health care in the community and said ‘we need something.’ They got together a lot of the funding for the initial hospital, and that’s where it began 100 years ago.”

In 100 years, DCH has expanded from one hospital to three, and was a pillar of the region in the wake of the devastating April 27, 2011, tornado. But the main building wasn’t always parked off University Boulevard.

“DCH was a military hospital over by where (University Mall) sits now, and then we moved to the location we’re currently at,” North said. “It’s continuing to expand from there.”

DCH CEO Katrina Keefer said the system’s goal is ensuring West Alabamians have state-of-the-art services.

“I don’t know that we’ll have new hospitals, but we’ll certainly have new services,” she said.

Keefer has been CEO since Aug. 1, 2022.

“I plan for us to continue to serve the community and to continue to reach out to all of West Alabama,” Keefer said.