Pardee Hospital was officially opened and dedicated in 1953 at its current location. The old Patton Hospital closed.
The other two hospitals in the county were Mountain Sanitarium and Hospital (Park Ridge) in Naples and the Valley Clinic in Bat Cave.
Henderson and Transylvania counties formed a joint Health Department in the 1950s. Shots were given at the Hendersonville City Hall. The public health nurse was Mary Hill Rowe, who led the movement to build and open a Henderson County Health Department from a combination of state funds and private donations. The county gave $5,000. In 1959, the Henderson County Health Department opened on U.S. 176 at the corner of Brooklyn Avenue.
There were approximately 35 physicians listed in the county in 1960, but it is not clear if this included doctors with Mountain Sanitarium and Hospital and the Valley Clinic. There were 26 physicians listed in the “Miller’s Directory.”
By 1959, there were three optometrist offices listed in Hendersonville. The number of dentists had increased to 12 in Hendersonville.
A total of 218 persons in Henderson County were employed in health care by the end of the 1950s, according to the U.S. Census report. There were 230 persons working in health care in the 1950 census; therefore, the total number actually dropped during the 1950s.
There were only two veterinarians listed in the directory by the end of the decade, two less than were listed in 1950.