Woodbury Building on Southern Maine Health Care campus set for demolition: Here's why

SANFORD, Maine — Southern Maine Health Care will begin demolishing the historic Woodbury Building on its campus on June Street in the weeks ahead.

The demolition, which is expected to conclude by April 30, is necessary, the hospital announced on its website.

“The building has become prohibitively expensive to maintain, no longer meets current building code for clinical or administrative space, and is not fit for refurbishment or expansion,” the hospital said.

The building, which most recently housed SMHC’s IT department, officially closed in December.

Neighbors can expect increased noise and the presence of heavy equipment, dust and debris around the building site in the coming weeks, according to SMHC. Once the demolition is complete, the site will be preserved as green space.

Nearly half of the building’s materials will be recycled, according to the hospital.

Certain items also will be preserved to honor the legacy of Dorothy Woodbury, after whom the building was named. Woodbury was a beloved nurse who served the community of Sanford for more than 60 years during the 20th century.

Goodall Hospital served Sanford, Springvale and surrounding communities as its own entity until it merged with Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford to form Southern Maine Health Care in 2014. The hospital officially dedicated the building to Woodbury in 1986.

Built in 1929, the building served as Goodall Hospital’s nursing school and became a living space for its nurses, who worked on campus 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Woodbury was a student in the first graduating class at the nursing school. She continued to live in the building for two decades. In time, she served as a nurse anesthetist and, ultimately, the hospital’s nursing director.

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Why building was named in honor of Dorothy Woodbury?

The Sanford-Springvale Historical Society opened an exhibit paying tribute to Woodbury in 2010. That year, the Sanford News chronicled Woodbury’s life in a feature story.

Born in Sanford in 1911, she grew up on School Street and graduated from Sanford High School in 1928, at which point she applied for admission to Goodall Hospital's nursing program. She began training there in October, barely two months after the hospital opened. She graduated from the nursing school in 1931.

In 1933, Woodbury spent three months at a Boston hospital, where she studied anesthesia techniques, allowing her to become Goodall Hospital's nurse anesthetist for 35 years. During her career, Woodbury also worked in the hospital’s x-ray and pharmacy departments and served as the director of nursing.

“At one point, when the hospital was short-staffed, Woodbury juggled all those responsibilities as well as a nurse anesthetist at the same time,” reporter Ellen Todd wrote in the 2010 piece. “She also filled in as interim administrator for three months while the hospital waited for a newly hired administrator to come on board.”

“The hospital seems like my second home,” Woodbury said when the building was dedicated to her in 1986. Woodbury died in 1996.

Kathryn Cope, the chief operating officer at SMHC, recently spoke of Woodbury’s legacy. The hospital plans to install a plaque honoring Woodbury in a public area on the SMHC campus.

“Although we are sad to see the Woodbury Building go, we know that Dot’s impact on the Sanford community lives on through the commitment to quality care still delivered today,” Cope said.

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Woodbury Building at Southern Maine Health Care set for demolition