When Dr. Henry C. White first opened his doctor’s office in a house in downtown Fort Walton Beach in 1946, the medical profession had only recently seen its first heart surgery, and there had yet to be established a link between smoking and lung cancer. Medical technology was nascent, and the profession was unaware of the prodigious future it would have in health care.

White and his family lived upstairs above his practice so that he could be responsive to his patients at any time – an “under one roof” concept that exists to this day. As his practice grew, so did the need for additional capacity and equipment.

White later added a laboratory, diagnostic X-ray machines, surgery rooms and a few hospital beds, ensuring quality health care in one location.

In 1952, White’s medical school classmate and friend, Dr. Joseph C. Wilson, joined him, and in 1977, the foundation of White-Wilson Medical Center was formed.

In the ensuing years, satellite practices with clinics have opened in Destin, Nice­ville and Bluewater Bay ; a Primary Care Center was established as well.

White-Wilson Medical Center ’s growth now has spanned 11 presidential administrations, four U.S. armed conflicts, an increasingly diverse population and gigantic leaps in medical technology. Yet it has been undeterred from its goal of providing quality health care with a multi-specialty practice in a single facility. Additional service centers now are in place, including the Center for Women’s Health Care, the Center for Women’s Imaging, the Cardiac Imaging Group and the NeuroScience Center .

“White-Wilson is constantly staying ahead of the curve with ever-changing health-care technological advancements to continuously improve the quality of the health-care services for its patients,” said Alan Gieseman, chief executive officer of the medical center.

Through the years, White’s under-one-roof concept has steadfastly prevailed as the facility grew.

“One-stop shopping means fewer hassles and better care for our patients,” said Dr. Rob Feldman, staff neurosurgeon at the NeuroScience Center .

Steady growth for White-Wilson requires adapting to advances in procedures and medical technology, Feldman said.

“We are continually updating and enhancing the neurosurgical procedures that we perform,” Feldman said. “Advances in the field of neurosurgery are enabling us to make smaller incisions; create less post-operative pain; shorten recovery time; improve patient outcome with better results of pain relief; perform tumor removal; and preserve function.”

White-Wilson’s success through the years has been anchored to its convenient one-stop-shopping formula, which has continually adapted to a changing health-care environment.

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Scott Jackson

© 2007 Scott Jackson