The original 90-bed facility was far from the regional medical center Forrest General has become today. In fact, today's Forrest General is more than 10 times the size of the original building.
Today, the Forrest General Hospital system comprises 537 beds. It consists of a 429-bed acute care facility; Pine Grove, an 88-bed chemical dependency and psychiatric unit; Rehab Resource, a 20-bed rehabilitation unit; Lowery A. Woodall Outpatient Surgery Facility; and Forrest General Home Care.
Forrest General admitted its first patient, Mrs. Fred Roberts of Purvis, on July 15, 1952. Mrs. Roberts gave birth to a daughter the following day. In 1952, the hospital staff comprised a total of 70 employees and 31 doctors. Today, more than 2,800 people are employed by the Forrest General system. The medical staff now comprises more than 250 physicians, the largest medical staff in Mississippi outside Jackson.
