OREM — When 10-year-old Brighton Thorn is asked what is unique about her, she has a ready response.
"I was the first baby born at Timpanogos Hospital," she says. "I was on the news and in the newspaper."
Both Thorn, wearing pink scrubs embroidered with her name, and Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem celebrated their 10th birthdays Monday with the Thorn family and employees who worked at the hospital when it opened.
Barbara Johnson, a nurse who helped deliver Brighton, still works at the hospital and surprised the family during the celebration, which was attended by about a dozen other employees.
Charee Thorn, Brighton's mother, has now had four of her five children at the hospital.
"After Brighton, we didn't want to go anywhere else" to have a baby, she said.
She added that Brighton was "like a New Year's baby. There were presents everywhere."
Brighton said she was excited to come to what she refers to as "her hospital" for the celebration.
After presenting her with a cake and a gift from the hospital, Keith Tintle, Timpanogos Regional Hospital's chief executive officer, asked her if she would come back in 10 years to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the hospital. She agreed with a giggle. Tintle also presented Charee Thorn with pink roses. The Thorns presented Tintle with a cake congratulating the hospital for reaching this milestone.
When it was originally completed, the $50 million hospital had 46 beds and about 50 employees and volunteers. Several completed expansions, and one in progress, have created a hospital that employs more than 525 people with 450 physicians. Current numbers show that more than 13,000 babies have been born there, said Jacque Brown, the hospital's marketing director. The hospital also features a Level III neonatal intensive care unit.
Renovation work is expected to be completed within the year and will add a third and fourth floor for medical, surgical and pediatric patients. The project creates another 54,461 square feet of space at the facility.
E-mail: csmith@desnews.com