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New Local Heart Care Centers Under Construction

Cynthia Brooks Reporting

Major construction projects are underway in Hampton Roads that will help your heart. Two of our area's health systems are building new heart centers.

The big focus on heart health is really needed in Hampton Roads. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of adult men and women in our area. Within twelve months, there will be little or no reason to travel out of Hampton Roads to get state of the art cardiac care.

Outside Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth, a crowd of staff, health officials and dignitaries from across the area gathered under a warmed tent to watch a large banner unfurl from the skeleton structure of what will eventually be the Bon Secours Columbia University Heart Institute. The banner read: World Class Cardiac Care starts here.

That is the message Bon Secours health officials want to portray to the community. "Bon Secours identified unmet needs in our community and by bringing open heart surgery here in partnering with Columbia University, especially, we're adding open heart surgery to Western Hampton Roads for the first time, " said Jennifer Boynton-Smith, Director of Cardiovascular Services for Bon Secours.

Notice the addition of Columbia University. Bon Secours will be New York based Columbia's ninth medical partnership outside of Manhattan in New York. Maryview will be Columbia's 9th medical partnership outside of Manhattan.

Dr. Eric Rose with Columbia University was on hand to speak to the crowd. "We bring training ability for anesthesiologists, intensive care units and the ability to identify and recruit great talent to come to the community of Hampton Roads," said Dr. Rose.

Across the river on Tuesday, another crowd celebrated a similar milestone. Staff and local business and community leaders gathered to watch the topping out of the new Sentara Heart Hospital located next to the Norfolk General River Pavilion. The topping out marks the point in which the highest structural element is put in place.

That steel beam was signed by dozens of employees. Many of them were there to watch the beam as it was hoisted up by a crane and lowered onto the structure. Dr. Glenn Barnhart, a Sentara Cardiac Surgeon remarked, "This will be the final culmination of putting together the services of nearly 100 physicians to provide cardiac care for the patients in South Hampton Roads. It's exciting to see it finally come together."

While Norfolk General already provides a variety of heart procedures, this new facility will consolidate the work in one location.

The Sentara Heart Hospital is scheduled to open next February. The Bon Secours-Columbia University Heart Institute is scheduled to open this fall. Health leaders would like to see heart disease eventually become as rare as rheumatic fever, but they admit, there's a lot of work to do to achieve that.

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Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System is a leading health care organization known for providing care for the whole person with grace and clinical distinction. Bon Secours brings together a network of hospitals, primary care practices, ambulatory care sites and continuing care facilities to provide quality health care services to the residents of Hampton Roads. Bon Secours, which employs more than 4,500, includes: Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Mary Immaculate Hospital, Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View, Bon Secours Maryview Nursing Care Center and St. Francis Nursing Center.

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