SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Bon Secours has been planning a hospital in Suffolk’s Harbour View for years, but has now changed the original plan to meet the needs of the growing community.
“It seems like every time I drive out there, there is something new,” said Kate Brinn, president of Maryview and Harbour View.
Bon Secours was approved by the state in 2018 to build an 18-bed surgical hospital. Staff has now changed the original plan to build a more rounded facility. The pandemic made that decision easy.
Bon Secours filed a certificate of public need (COPN) request to increase bed capacity at Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View through the relocation of up to 36 acute care beds, including up to 12 obstetrical/gynecological beds and neonatal services, up to eight intensive care beds, and up to 16 medical/surgical beds.
The expansion is projected to be nearly 67,000 gross square feet and increases the project’s original scope that was approved in December 2018.
“The original hospital did not contemplate having an ICU critical care services, because it was going to be more of an electively-focused surgical hospital,” Brinn added.
The new plans call for a total of 54 beds and COVID-19 has caused hospital administrators to think about what’s needed most.
“The rooms that will be adjacent to our ICU. We are going to design [it] so if we need to create more ICU rooms we could easily do it,” Brinn said.
“For a number of illness types, you need a hospital,” said Maryview President of Medical Staff Dr. Mark Kerner. “You need a place where people can go when they are very sick.”
Kerner was one of the biggest cheerleaders when it came to getting the hospital in that area. He says it’s needed now more than ever.
“It’s not going to be available obviously for the current pandemic, but what we have to come to realize, it is predictably unpredictable,” Kerner said. “These things will happen and we have to have the capacity available.”
Construction is expected to begin early next year and doors should be open in 2023.
As part of the COPN process, Bon Secours is encouraging the community to share letters and comments of support for this expansion.
Community members who wish to share their experiences and support for the project are asked to please address their letters to Kate Brinn, president, Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center and Harbour View Medical Campus, Maryview Medical Center, Administration, 3636 High Street, Portsmouth, VA 23707.
An email copy of letters may also be emailed to Kate Brinn or Nanette Stavola with the subject line: Letter of Support for COPN VA-8520.
For more information, including how to participate in the online petition for this project.