Editing Wilkes County, North Carolina (section)

== Hospitals ==
[[Wilkes Regional Medical Center|Wilkes Medical Center]] was opened in 1952 as Wilkes General Hospital.<ref name="WRMC">{{cite news |last=Hayes |first=Francis |date=May 2, 2012 |title=New WRMC areas open soon |newspaper=Wilkes Journal-Patriot |url=http://www.journalpatriot.com/news/article_0b3bd498-9484-11e1-8536-001a4bcf6878.html |access-date=May 7, 2012}}</ref> In 2017, [[Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center|Wake Forest Baptist Health]] brought the hospital, at the time known as Wilkes Regional Medical Center, into their system. WMC is the largest hospital in northwestern North Carolina<ref>{{cite web |title=Wilkes Regional Medical Center |url=http://www.north-wilkesboro.com/WRMC/ |access-date=May 7, 2012 |publisher=Town of North Wilkesboro}}</ref> and is Wilkes County's fourth largest employer.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wilkes County's Largest Employers |url=http://www.wilkesedc.com/about/largest-employers/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916231239/http://www.wilkesedc.com/about/largest-employers/ |archive-date=September 16, 2012 |access-date=May 7, 2012 |publisher=Wilkes Economic Development Corporation }}</ref> West Park, formerly a large shopping center built in the 1970s, was, starting in 2000, transformed into a large medical park with numerous offices for physicians, medical specialists, pharmacies, physical therapists, and other medical and health-related fields.