Wentworth-Douglass Hospital

The 178-bed,[6] Magnet-recognized,[7] community hospital is certified as a Level III Adult and Pediatric Trauma center.[8] The hospital is located in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and Southern Maine.

Wentworth-Douglass is a member of Mass General Brigham,[9] a health care system founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The hospital offers a range of medical, surgical, and specialty care, including a 24-hour Emergency Department.

The organization also includes primary[10] and specialty provider practices[11] and clinic sites, multiple express (urgent care),[12] and prompt care (primary care) [13] facilities, an ambulatory surgery center,[14] several medical office buildings, The Works Family Health and Fitness Center,[15] and the Wentworth-Douglass Foundation.[16]

The hospital is home to a number of specialty clinical centers, with locations in Dover and Portsmouth, including: The Seacoast Cancer Center,[17] The Center for Heart Health,[18] Center for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine,[19] Women & Children’s Center,[20] Center for Neurosciences,[21] and Center for Weight Management & Bariatric Surgery[22]

Mass General for Children (MGfC) also provides the hospital with pediatric specialty services[23][24]

• Portsmouth Outpatient Center. Located on the Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the center offers Primary Care, Specialty Care and Walk-in Care.[25][26]
• Lee Outpatient Center. Located in Lee, New Hampshire, the center provides Primary Care, an Express Care location, laboratory services, and imaging.[27]
• Dover Outpatient Center. Located on Members Way, the center offers Primary Care, Specialty Care, laboratory services, imaging and Walk-In Prompt Care.[28]
• Wentworth-Douglass Express Care. Located in Dover and Lee, the hospital-based centers offer Walk-in Urgent Care.[29]
• Wentworth Health Partners. WHP is a multi-specialty group practice affiliated with Wentworth-Douglass, including more than 12 Primary Care practices and 23 Specialty Care practices.[30]
• The Works Family Health & Fitness Center. Located in Somersworth, NH, The Works is an 80,000-plus square foot multipurpose wellness and fitness center.[31]

Wentworth-Douglass was founded in 1906 when Arioch Wentworth’s estate provided a bequest of $100,000 to the city of Dover to establish a hospital. Today, all that remains of the original hospital is a stone wall running along Central Avenue.

Grace Haskell, RN, was the hospital’s first superintendent, a post she held for 30 years. It was very rare for a woman to hold such a position at the time. Most doctors and board members were male. The hospital also had a nursing school from 1906 until 1952, when colleges began offering professional nursing programs.

In the 1950s, a $500,000 donation from the estate of Louise B. Douglass, led to the name change of Wentworth-Douglass.[32][33]

The hospital’s largest addition, the four-story Garrison Wing – named in honor of Dover’s nickname “the Garrison City” - opened in January 2013.[34]

In 2016, Wentworth-Douglass celebrated its 110th anniversary and was awarded the Magnet designation, the nation’s highest honor for excellence in nursing. It achieved Magnet designation again in 2021.[35]

On January 1, 2017, the hospital became a subsidiary of Massachusetts General Hospital and is now a member of the Mass General Brigham system.[36]

The Wentworth-Douglass is also supported by a charitable foundation.

The Wentworth-Douglass Foundation’s largest annual fundraiser is the Seacoast Cancer 5K, one of New Hampshire’s biggest road races.[37][38]