Company Profile
Company Overview
For more than half a century, Westfield Memorial Hospital has provided high quality health care to residents of western New York. Through new technologies, services and partnerships, Westfield Memorial Hospital has evolved over the years to offer patients the most sophisticated medical advancements--while keeping the ease and familiarity of a community hospital.
As an affiliate of Saint Vincent Health System in Erie, Pa., Westfield Memorial Hospital offers direct access to highly specialized care, including the convenience of on-site physician specialists. Staffed by the area's finest physicians and medical professionals, we are committed to meeting the health care needs of area families for years to come.
Company History
Mission Statement
Westfield Memorial Hospital is committed to compassion and excellence in the delivery of care that appropriately addresses the health needs of our community.
The Westfield Memorial Hospital was founded in 1942 with funds raised by local Rotarians. It was during the time of World War II and most physicians were called to serve in the military. The hospital founders felt they could improve the effectiveness of the remaining physicians by providing a hospital in which to provide patient care.
The original Westfield Memorial Hospital was a brick Italianate structure facing East Main Street and was guarded by two black cast iron Newfoundland dogs (Canton and Sailor). The building was originally constructed in 1853 by Dr. john Spencer, who later served as a physician in the Union Army during the Civil War.
In those days, physicians did not study medicine in school, but gained their knowledge by working with other physicians. One of Dr. Spencer’s most notable pupils was a certain B.F. Goodrich who gave up the practice of medicine for the rubber industry.
Another visitor of the building was an itinerant Scandinavian carpenter named Jacob A. Riis who worked on one of the building’s many renovations. Mr. Riis became a well-known author, philanthropist and friend of Theodore Roosevelt during the latter part of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
Additions were made to the original hospital in 1948, 1968 and 1981. A major building and renovation project was completed resulting in the addition of 17,720 square feet and renovated facilities in cardiac rehab, physical therapy, radiology, emergency department, surgery and laboratory.
In January 1999, the affiliation with Saint Vincent Health System was restructured providing a mechanism to share medical services and resources otherwise unavailable to a small rural hospital. Westfield Memorial Hospital is a member of Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, the Regional Heart Network, a group of area hospital using state-of-the-art care for heart emergencies and the Chautauqua County Health Network (CCHN).