Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (Portsmouth, Virginia)

 hospital, United States Navy

620 John Paul Jones Circle
Portsmouth, VA 23708
(757) 953-5000
DSN 377-5000
www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcp/Pages/default.aspx

Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, Is the Oldest Continuously Running Hospital in the Navy.
The Cornerstone for the Country's First Naval Hospital Was Laid on April Second, 1827. John Haviland, a Philadelphia Architect, Designed and Oversaw the Construction of the Hospital.
The Hospital Admitted its First Patients in 1830, Although Only One Wing Was Ready for Occupation. The First Hospital Building, Which Stands at the Opposite End of Hospital Point, Was Finally Completed in 1833.

Naval Hospital, Portsmouth Saw Relatively Few Patients During its First Decade. In 1847, the Hospital Treated its First War Casualties as Patients Were Brought in During the Mexican-American War. In 1855, Naval Hospital Portsmouth Operated its First Humanitarian Mission as the Secretary of the Navy Authorized the Hospital to Treat Civilian Victims of the Yellow Fever Epidemic That Was Sweeping Hampton Roads. The Hospital Saw Nearly 600 Patients from July to November of 1855.

When War Was Declared on April 6, 1917, the Navy's Manpower Level Exploded from 70,000 in 1917 to 530,000 by the War's End. The Task of the Medical Department to Screen Members for Combat, Train Medical Staff for Field Duty and Treat the Injured Was Immense. Up until the Outbreak of War, Naval Hospital Portsmouth Averaged Just over Two Hundred Patients a Day. By March 1917, That Number Exceeded Fourteen Hundred Patients, and the Patient Load Reached an All-Time High in July of 1918 with Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifty.

In 1917, Work Was Begun to Enlarge the Hospital. Thirty-Eight New Patient Care Buildings Were Hastily Erected as Well as Four Additional Barracks for Corpsmen.

The Greatest Threat to the Health of Our Navy During World War One Came Not from the German Fleet but from the Influenza Virus. Fifty Three Hundred Sailors and Marines Died from Influenza, in 1918, Nearly Double the Amount of Total Navy and Marine Corps Casualties During the Entire War.

The Post War Period Brought with it Another General Military Drawdown. But During That Period, Navy Medicine Took on a New Mission...Graduate Medical Education. In 1937, the First Internship Programs Were Established at Naval Hospital Portsmouth.

With the Onset of World War II, Naval Hospital Portsmouth Again Mobilized a Rapid Expansion Effort to Meet the Demand of the War Effort. Two Four Story Wings Were Added to Building One, and Chapel, Bachelor Officer Quarters, Occupational Health, and Library Facilities Were Constructed.

After World War II, Naval Hospital Portsmouth for the First Time Escaped a Postwar Scale-Down. The Continued Development of Military Facilities in Hampton Roads During this Period Called for Newer and Larger Medical Facilities. Construction for Building 215, the High-Rise Most People Associate with Portsmouth, Began in 1957 and Was Completed in 1960.

The next Significant Milestone in the History Came with the Close of the Vietnam War. As Prisoners of War Finally Made the Trip Home, Twelve of Them Came to Portsmouth to Convalesce.

www-nmcp.mar.med.navy.mil/AboutUs/nmcphist/index.asp