Wellstar Kennestone Hospital (formerly WellStar Kennestone Regional Medical Center) is a major hospital located in

Marietta, Georgia Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...

, serving most of northern and central Cobb County, Georgia. Kennestone Hospital opened in June 1950 as a 105-bed-facility. It was named after

Kennesaw Mountain Kennesaw Mountain is a mountain between Marietta and Kennesaw, Georgia in the United States with a summit elevation of . It is the highest point in the core (urban and suburban) metro Atlanta area, and fifth after further-north exurban counties ...

and

Stone Mountain Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state o ...

. In 1959, the hospital's capacity increased to 300 beds with the opening of the south wing. On June 22, 1988, the nation's first

laparoscopic Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.Medli ...

gall bladder removal took place at Kennestone. In 1993, Kennestone Hospital merged with five other facilities to become Northwest Georgia Health System. The other hospitals were: Cobb, Douglas, Paulding and Windy Hill. In 1998, Northwest became WellStar Health System. In 2011, Kennestone hospital was upgraded to a

Level II trauma center A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma center may also refer to an emergenc ...

, making it the third level II trauma center in

Metro Atlanta Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ...

. In early 2013, WellStar Kennestone Hospital was renamed WellStar Kennestone Regional Medical Center. In 2020, Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center opened a 200+ bed Emergency Department connected by a pedestrian

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

to the main hospital. The ne
Emergency Department
became the largest ER in Georgia and one of the top 5 largest in the United States. Wrestling star

Scott Hall Scott Oliver Hall (October 20, 1958 – March 14, 2022) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his real name and under the ring name the Diamond Studd and with the ...

died at this hospital on March 14, 2022.

References

{{authority control Buildings and structures in Marietta, Georgia Hospitals in Georgia (U.S. state)