New Sentara Albemarle Medical Center opens in Elizabeth City, NC

Virginia-based Sentara Health has opened its new 90-bed Sentara Albemarle Medical Center in Elizabeth City, NC. The hospital and adjacent medical office building complete a four-year, $278M campus project to replace a 65-year-old hospital owned by Pasquotank County, NC and leased by Sentara, with a new hospital owned and operated by Sentara, following a negotiated settlement of the 40-year lease that Sentara took on in 2014.

On Friday, August 8th, a fleet of ambulances and a mass casualty bus from eight area EMS agencies began an orchestrated movement of patients from the old hospital to the new one, including ICU patients, medical/surgical patients, and women with newborns. The new hospital’s emergency department opened for business at 6:00 a.m. as the old hospital’s ED began an orderly closure to ensure the previous night’s patients and last-minute arrivals received care during the day of transition. By the end of the day, the old hospital was silent, while the new one hummed with activity.

“This is a historic moment for our region,” said Teresa Watson, president of Sentara Albemarle Medical Center. “We have replaced a hospital from another era in health care with a state-of-the-art facility, right sized for today, and positioned to serve the community for decades to come. There’s also room to expand in the future, should we need to.”

The new hospital employs almost 900 people, some of whom are second and third generation employees, who transitioned to the new facility after multiple orientation sessions in the new space.

One of those people is Willie Mae Overton, 86, who worked at the original 1915 hospital and the 1960 hospital for 65 years before retiring last year and returning as a volunteer. The former unit secretary and safety partner wanted to score a hat trick by being involved in the third hospital in the community.

“I was determined to be here on opening day,” Overton said. She was there early in the morning and assisted with checking in patients, and she plans to continue volunteering in retirement. “This is like family,” Overton said. “The new hospital is very exciting, and I want to be part of it for as long as I can.” Overton’s daughter, Judy Riddick, also worked at the hospital for more than 40 years before retiring.

Overton’s cousin, Deb Brite, supervisor of housekeeping, has worked at SAMC for 23 years and her son now works with her. Both Brite and her son were born at the 1960 hospital. The new hospital includes a ten-bed LDRP unit featuring spacious, one-stop rooms in which moms can labor, deliver, and recover, and receive post-partum care in one room, with pull-out sofas for family members and warming bassinettes.

The new hospital will also feature a daVinci robotic surgery system transferred from the old hospital. The system, dubbed ‘Leo’ in a public naming contest, is also serving as a recruiting tool for fellowship-trained surgeons, who expect access to a daVinci robot before signing on to work at a hospital.

The medical office building, which has been operating for two years, features a radiation therapy center with a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator, offering local cancer patients precision radiotherapy in their own community. Medical practices, clustered around the now-closed hospital, are expected to fully occupy the MOB before the end of the year, creating a bustling outpatient campus and acute care hospital with a combined 278,000 square feet.

“This campus was the first real-world application of our commitment to diversify our supplier base,” said Sentara President & CEO Dennis Matheis in remarks at a pre-opening event in July. “At last count we had 17 local businesses working on this campus. Some are owned by women, minorities and veterans. We’re proud to help this community prosper by having local businesses help us build and service the campus.”

New hospital or not, Sentara Albemarle Medical Center President Teresa Watson wanted her office furniture to move with her. Her desk, meeting table and bookcase were hand built by Mark Stout, team coordinator for maintenance, a 30-year employee and a woodworker. He built the furniture for a previous president, but Watson claims it as her own.

“These beautiful pieces were built with great skill and love,” Watson said. “They provide a strong connection to the old hospital, and they look perfect in my new office.” Pasquotank County received $38M as part of the lease settlement, and the county maintains ownership of the former hospital site on North Road Street, about ten minutes’ drive from the new campus on Halstead Blvd. Extended. The new hospital was designed by Innovate Architecture and Interiors of Norfolk, Va. The primary contractor was Baltimore-based Whiting-Turner.

“In these uncertain times in health care, when the future of some rural hospitals in North Carolina is in doubt, I want to assure you that Sentara will stay the course,” said Dennis Mattheis. “Sentara is committed to northeast North Carolina.”