Del. Paula Miller, (87th District); 
State Sen. Ralph Northam (6th District);
Del. Algie Howell (90th District) look on as Bon Secours Hampton Roads CEO Michael Kerner and Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim sign the letter of support for the proposed 124-bed Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center.

Michael Kerner, Bon Secours Hampton Roads CEO, shakes hands with Hon. Paul Fraim, Norfolk City mayor, after the signing of the letter of support for the proposed 124-bed Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center.

Norfolk, Va. (August 25, 2008) – Responding to the City of Norfolk’s request for Bon Secours to maintain a larger presence in the city, Bon Secours Virginia has agreed to modify its proposed replacement of Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center to include additional services. Bon Secours announced today that it plans to amend its Certificate of Public Need (COPN) application to request permission to build a 124-bed, full-service acute care hospital to replace DePaul Medical Center on the DePaul campus in Norfolk.

“We have heard from the City of Norfolk that the City wants more resources from Bon Secours than were included in our original new model proposal,” said Michael Kerner, CEO of Bon Secours Virginia in Hampton Roads. “In the spirit of collaboration, Bon Secours has decided to modify its proposed replacement of Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center to include additional beds and services.”

On behalf of the City of Norfolk, Mayor Paul Fraim has signed a letter supporting Bon Secours’ revised proposal. The letter will be sent to the Virginia Health Commissioner with Bon Secours’ COPN application.

“Over the past several weeks, Bon Secours has been listening to the community and talking with Norfolk City leaders about the best approach to meet health care needs in Norfolk,” Kerner said. “We have clearly heard that the community wants Bon Secours to have a larger presence in the community, not a smaller presence.”

The new 124-bed Bon Secours DePaul will include 88 medical-surgical beds, 20 obstetric beds and 16 intensive care beds. In addition, there will be a full service emergency department, eight operating rooms, cardiac catheterization, advanced imaging, (CT and MRI), radiation therapy linear accelerator, and a mobile lithotripsy service. To allow time to amend its application Bon Secours asked the state and the Eastern Virginia Health Systems Agency to delay the August 18 public hearing on the COPN applications for 60 days.