SoKY’s Choice: Med Center Health celebrates 100 years with High Street Tower opening

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WNKY) – Med Center Health celebrated a century of serving South Central Kentucky Saturday with the ribbon-cutting of its new High Street Tower.

The five-story tower, located on the campus of The Medical Center at Bowling Green, will initially house women’s and newborn services, including labor and delivery, postpartum care, obstetrical emergency services and the region’s only Level Three neonatal intensive care unit.

“Today we celebrate two extraordinary milestones 100 years of Med Center Health and opening the High Street Tower,” Med Center Health President and CEO Connie Smith said.

Smith said nearly 150,000 babies have been born through Med Center Health since 1926.

“I cannot think of a better way to celebrate 100 years than by opening a five-story tower dedicated to new life, new beginnings and the future,” Smith said.

Dr. Ben Banasiewicz, chair of the hospital’s OB/GYN department, said the new facility is designed to bring together the people, technology and services mothers and babies need.

High Street Tower will also serve as a training environment for residents and students through the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Bowling Green.

Kim Dethridge, Med Center Health’s director of women’s services, said the tower was designed with patients and families at the center.

“What excites me most is what’s going to happen in it every day,” Dethridge said. “Nurses supporting moms through labor, physicians and residents working together, NICU teams caring for our tiniest patients, parents learning to care for their newborns, and families meeting their babies for the very first time.”

The project also carries historical significance. Joe Natcher, chairman of Commonwealth Hospital Corporation, said the tower sits on the former footprint of High Street School, which served as a high school for African American students from 1955 to 1965 before later serving as an elementary school.

Natcher said the project represents an investment intended to serve future generations.

“We are building for generations we will never meet,” Natcher said.

Med Center Health also announced that the next phase of the project is already underway. That phase will include a surgery center, emergency department expansion, a chapel, courtyard, dining options and other additions.

The tower is part of Med Center Health’s effort to grow alongside the community. A representative involved in the health system’s centennial celebration said the Bowling Green community is expected to double in size over the next 24 years, according to the BG2050 project.

The High Street Tower ribbon-cutting also kicked off Med Center Health’s 100th Birthday Bash, which included food trucks, games and live music.

City of Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott and Warren County Judge-Executive Doug Gorman also joined the celebration and proclaimed Aug. 15, 2026, as Med Center Health Day.

Med Center Health began in 1926 and has since grown into the region’s only comprehensive academic health system, with six hospitals and nearly 5,000 team members across South Central Kentucky.

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