The reopening of the Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center (Photo courtesy Bon Secours Mercy Health)
Room to Care
A $109 million expansion to Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center is patient ready
Things are looking up at Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center. The hospital complex off Charter Colony Parkway in Midlothian recently completed a 30-month renovation as part of a $108 million project that added two floors and 110,000 square feet of improved facilities for general and specialty care.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in May, marking the opening of 55 new acute-care beds and five clinical areas. The facility reopened its enlarged mother-infant and intensive care units in fall 2023, followed by a larger neonatal ICU, a medical/surgical multispecialty unit and an observation unit for nonemergency patients.
The medical center’s upgrades were designed to accommodate population growth. “The numbers recently are showing that Chesterfield’s growing by 20 people per day,” says Joe Wilkins, president of Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center. “That’s what we were building for.”
The increased capacity not only supports more patients but also provides care for higher risk patients as well. “We do so many things outpatient; things that people used to stay in the hospital for,” Wilkins adds. “They’re now going home, because medications have gotten better. So we have increased those ICU beds because we are taking care of sicker patients than we have previously.”
In the wake of the hospital’s completed upgrades, the regional Bon Secours health network is setting sights on a host of new, freestanding emergency departments and urgent care facilities to again accommodate the booming county, according to Joey Trapani, chief operating officer for the medical center. “It speaks to the demand and growth and how these services will accommodate that entire [state Route] 288 corridor.”
(From left) Drs. Phillips and Casella tour the Children’s Hospital’s new facilities. (Photo courtesy Children’s Hospital of Richmond)
Home Is Where the Heart Is
Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU adds a specialty cardiac center
This summer, the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU will take steps in its planned upgrade to the downtown Children’s Tower with the opening of the first pediatric-focused cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology lab in the region. The 24/7 facility will play host to specialist pediatricians and assistive technology to treat congenital heart defects, heart arrhythmias and more in newborns and children.
“We will do the full gamut of interventional procedures,” says Dr. Sal Casella, a pediatric cardiologist running the lab. “What we’re here to do is to provide care for the families and children of Richmond, here in Richmond.”
“Over the past decades, there have been plenty of sick children [here] that have either gone to institutions within the state or outside of the state for their care,” Casella says. “It’s a local need that’s been there that hasn’t been met, and that is the need that we’re filling now.”
Previously, the pediatric specialists worked in the Pauley Heart Center’s cardiac catheterization lab in the VCU Medical Center downtown. The new facility will allow for patients to be cared for in the Children’s Tower and improved technology for smaller, younger patients, as well as dedicated nursing staff trained in pediatric care.
Reducing the amount of time spent undergoing procedures and being away from families is a goal that, with advances in medicine and improved facilities, doctors at the Children’s Tower see as a reality. “The difference that our lab is going to provide is the specialized care they’re going to receive there, not only within the lab but before, during and after the procedure,” says Dr. John Phillips, Children’s Hospital’s lead pediatric electrophysiologist, who will work in the new space.
Illustration via Getty Images
Back to Bed
The Virginia Sleep Center opens an office in Scott’s Addition
As of 2022, roughly 36% of Virginians have reported sleep deprivation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A recently founded sleep clinic aims to reduce those late nights with therapeutic treatments.
The Virginia Sleep Center was founded in 2023 and began seeing patients earlier this year. It is based in a Scott’s Addition coworking space, where the practice’s 10 counselors and therapists see patients in person and via telehealth appointments.
Focusing on those with insomnia, the clinicians assess the habits and related health problems of patients to treat sleep disorders through specialized cognitive behavioral therapy.
“Usually, our patients have issues sleeping three or more nights per week or three months or longer,” says George Wang, founder and practice manager.
The center’s licensed professional counselors and clinical social workers have seen about 300 patients since opening and recently added two clinicians to the roster. Wang hopes to move the practice to a larger, permanent facility in Richmond later this year and is considering adding a Northern Virginia location as well.
“We have patients coming in who have been dealing with insomnia for years who are relieved to finally be able to receive focused insomnia treatment that goes beyond basic sleep hygiene,” Wang says.
