Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 30, 1993 TAG: 9301300119
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. McWILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
YES, THE HOSPITAL FRONTIER HAD A FEW DANIEL BOONES
William Reid thinks of himself as a pioneer in health care administration.When he first considered his career in 1948, "you could go to school for fishing and deep sea diving, but not hospital administration," he said. When he retired last month as president of Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley, he had served 40 years in hospitals.
The Bluefield, W.Va., native did find a college program for hospital administration in 1948, a fledgling one at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. As part of the MCV program, he did an internship at Jefferson Hospital in Roanoke. "It was the closest hospital to Bluefield," he said.
Reid has seen changes, he said, that doctors practicing when he started his career would not have deemed possible.
"Salaries were 25 to 30 cents an hour" for nurses. "Technology was almost nonexistent; the major drug was penicillin and we had to charge extra for it," he said.
He got his degree in 1952 and became administrator at Waynesboro Community Hospital. He said he learned to appreciate the role of a small-town hospital administrator.
"I was the total administrative staff," he wrote in a personal essay about his year in Waynesboro.
"I served as director of nursing with staffing responsibilities. I purchased the drugs; I purchased the radiology equipment and supplies as well as those for laboratory, housekeeping and dietary."
Reid has run three hospitals, beginning from his small basement office at the Waynesboro hospital.
He remembered the time at Waynesboro that he had to drive around trying to find a replacement for a switchboard operator who had been on duty for 14 straight hours during an ice storm.
Reid came to Roanoke in 1953 to head Jefferson Hospital, Community's predecessor. He never had to take to the streets again to find personnel replacements; there were others to do that.
But Reid still showed dedication above the call of duty, said Dr. Robert L.A. Keeley, a Roanoke surgeon who has known him since he was administrator at Jefferson.
"We were in Washington during a hurricane a couple of years ago," Keeley said, "and we drove back through high winds so he could get back to the hospital to help batten down the hatches."
Reid considered himself always on call via beeper and cellular phone.
Keeley, a young surgeon when Reid came to Roanoke, remembers how at ease Reid made him feel.
"He was helpful and willing to listen," Keeley said. "He worked in Reid expanded his community service after the birth of his mentally retarded son. He said he felt the need to return the kindness shown to him and his wife. a partnership with the medical staff."
Reid was one of the key players in the successful merger of Community and Roanoke Memorial Hospital into the Carilion Health System.
"The merger would not have gotten to where it is today, had it not been for him," said Carilion President Tom Robertson. The hospital company named its College of Health Sciences building the Reid Center and the street adjacent to it Reid Drive.
Reid expanded his community service after the birth of his son, who is mentally retarded. He said he felt the need to return the kindness the community had shown to him and his wife, Anna Mae.
He worked on several community boards, including the Roanoke chapter of the American Red Cross, the United Way of Roanoke Valley and the board of directors of the College of Health Sciences and Virginia Western Community College.
Reid said he will continue his professional interests, including work with the Virginia Hospital Association and on Carilion's board.
He said he will miss the people at Community, but "it's time for a new set of pioneers."