South County Hospital is an independent, non-profit acute care facility in Wakefield, Rhode Island, serving roughly 100,000 residents in the southern part of the state. Founded in 1919 in a private home, it expanded in 1925 with funding from the Hazard family and has since grown into a 100-bed campus spanning 345,000 square feet. The hospital has earned significant recognition, including being ranked the best in Rhode Island for surgical care by Consumer Reports in 2013 and becoming the first hospital in New England to receive the Pathway to Excellence designation for nursing in 2012. It also boasts an impressive 87% survival rate for sepsis patients, compared to a national mortality rate of 25–50%, and collaborates with Johns Hopkins University on ICU care improvements. As the flagship of the South County Health system, which employs 1,300 people, the hospital is led by CEO Louis Giancola and is highly rated by patients, with 83% giving it a score of 9 or 10 in a 2013 GoLocal survey.