1980
The federal census shows Fayetteville’s population to be 36,608, an increase of 19 percent from the 1970 census. Washington County’s total population was 100,494.
Washington Regional Medical Center reports 1,267 babies being born at the hospital.
1981
Washington Regional Medical Center’s emergency department was designated a Level II Trauma Center.
1982
Washington Regional Medical Center finishes completion of the East Tower expansion when the sixth floor is opened for operation, adding 44 obstetric and gynecological beds.
1983
Washington Regional Medical Center reports 826 full- and part-time employees. Thirty medical specialties represented, 135 physicians on staff, with a total of 272 beds. A new neurological floor and intensive care step-down unit were opened at 2 West, adding 22 beds.
1985
WRMC Hospice becomes first Medicare-certified program in Arkansas. Hospice program becomes operational.
1986
August — The Arkansas Air Museum opened in the old “White Hangar” at Drake Field. Serving on the museum’s first board of directors were Ray Ellis, Bob Younkin, Jim Younkin, Floyd Carl, Jim McDonald, Larry Brown, Ernest Lancaster and Bob McKinney.
1987
Medical staff totals at Washington Regional Medical Center listed at 160. The Center for Exercise opens at a facility in the shopping center at Township and Gregg streets. A machine to allow magnetic resonance imaging is transported to Washington Regional. The Sleep Disorder Center opens, one of only 100 in the U.S. at the time.
1989
Washington Regional Medical Center becomes a smoke-free institution. While it had always had a smoking policy, WRMC restricted smoking in the building.
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