Dr. Kristin Edwards of West Richmond Family Dentistry (Photo by Jay Paul)
Practice Progress
Richmond dentists find a way forward after a building fire
Following an office fire in mid-January, two West End dental practices are searching for new locations. West Richmond Family Dentistry and Endodontic Partners, both formerly at 5318 Patterson Ave., shared the building and have since been displaced, along with other businesses in the office park.
On the day of the fire, Dr. Kristin Edwards, an owner and dentist at West Richmond Family Dentistry, left the office not long after the fire started. After a friend alerted her to the blaze, Edwards and her husband drove back to the practice, only to see a cloud of black smoke above the building. “It’s kind of like when somebody tells you somebody’s passed away. It’s shock,” Edwards says. “You just think, ‘Everything I’ve worked for, it won’t ever be the same.’”
In the weeks after the fire, Edwards launched a GoFundMe campaign to help pay staff and purchase new equipment, ultimately raising over $36,000. “I think [my team] were surprised at how much, just the quantity of people that were helping,” Edwards says.
Donations of dental supplies also poured in from the Richmond dental community. Edwards says the outpouring of support has helped to lift her up.
Dr. Sanjay Bhagchandani, co-owner of Endodontic Partners with his wife, Dr. Trisha Krause, owns the building that caught fire on Patterson Avenue. After losing the practice, he has found the support from fellow dentists humbling. “People have reached out to us and they were like, ‘I have this space, or these dental chairs, or I have whatever you need, you can borrow,’” Bhagchandani says.
In February, Edwards was able to rehome her practice to the offices of Capital Dental Design at 6947 Forest Ave., with space donated by owner and dentist Graham Forbes. Bhagchandani is currently operating out of an office at 5500 Monument Avenue, not far from the site of the fire.
Edwards is optimistic about a return to the location she’s called home since 2020, aiming to reopen in the original office by the spring of 2026. “We have a great practice, a great team, great patients, I’m really proud of a lot of things,” Edwards says. “So yes, we’ll come back better, but I’m just happy to come back to the way that we were.” —Alyssa Hutton
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Curbing a Trend
Richmond’s efforts to reduce overdose deaths show promise
Locally and across the U.S., a pandemic-era boom of drug overdose deaths may finally be receding. From December 2023 to December 2024, the number of predicted deaths in Virginia from overdoses decreased 38.5%, according to CDC data, which is a sharper decline than the U.S. average for the same period. In Richmond, deaths fell 64.9% from 2022 to 2024, according to preliminary data from the Virginia Department of Health.
There are numerous reasons for the dramatic shift, experts say. Access to naloxone, also known as Narcan; the implementation of harm reduction strategies such as fentanyl test strips and evidence-based treatment; and recovery services can all help to reduce overdose deaths. Over the years, these efforts have found success in communities across the country through education and policy changes.
In the city of Richmond, one group behind the turnaround is the substance use and prevention staff of the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, whose decades of education, prevention, and outpatient and residential treatment throughout the city have built a network of care now functioning to reduce deaths.
Decreasing overdose deaths relies on a three-pronged approach, according to Charlene Edwards, Prevention Services Manager at RBHA. Prevention, treatment and recovery are all essential to addressing substance use disorder. Her role focuses on providing resources, information and training to the community.
“We do a lot of education,” Edwards says. “Currently, we are offering Mental Health First Aid for adults and for youth, and that’s for the community at large, free of charge. And we also offer Revive.”
Revive is Virginia’s statewide opioid overdose and naloxone education program, which provides free online and in-person training on how to recognize an opioid overdose and administer naloxone. Revive launched in Richmond in 2013, and more than a decade on, has conducted hundreds of sessions statewide each year for individuals and groups to learn about overdose prevention.
“We believe in collective impact,” Edwards says. “We work with a lot of community groups, making sure youth have positive programs that they can go to. … We work together with some of our other partners across the state where we look at policy issues and each year put forth policy issues that need to be addressed.” Partner organizations, including nonprofits, health networks, civic associations and more help conne-ct those in need with RBHA’s resources in Richmond.
Outpatient care plays a major role in reducing overdose deaths, a fact that influenced the integrated care model of the Richmond Integrated Community Health Clinic, RBHA’s downtown community medical service provider.
“We’re an outpatient clinic, but we have a really interdisciplinary team.” says Sara Hilleary, RICH Clinic’s program manager. “We’ve got prescribers, of course ... but we [also] have care coordinators, therapists and peer support.
“Building that rapport and engagement first and then providing the education to prevent and focus on harm reduction is a big, big tool from an outpatient perspective,” she says.
While the work continues, the downward trend in deaths encourages providers like Hilleary and Edwards to keep up the effort. “There is treatment, and people do recover,” Edwards says. —Mary Margaret Clouse
A rendering of Bon Secours St. Mary’s new eight-story tower (Image courtesy Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital)
Coming Soon
New facilities across the region
HCA Virginia has finalized plans to build a freestanding emergency room in Chesterfield County. The facility at 9630 Iron Bridge Road will cover 13,000 square feet and feature 11 treatment rooms and imaging equipment.
The groundbreaking for the new building is planned for mid-2025, and HCA Virginia expects it to open by mid-2026. Once completed, it will expand their reach and care options in the central-southeastern corridor of Chesterfield County, a fast-growing part of the county where health care competitors like VCU Health are also planning new facilities.
“This new ER will allow us to deliver 24/7 emergency services closer to where our patients live and work and provide an additional HCA Virginia access point for the Chesterfield community,” says Wes Hester, HCA Virginia’s director of media relations.
In the West End, the future of Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital is looking up. The nearly 110-year-old hospital will undergo a $370 million expansion project at its campus on Monument and Libbie avenues. Construction is expected to start this spring, with a completion goal of winter 2027. The project will add an eight-story tower — six active floors and two shelled for future growth — that will house an additional 391 hospital beds, new critical care units and more.
The tower will also include a range of specialized departments, from women’s and children’s services to cardiac and vascular care, that were previously not available on the campus.
“This new tower will ensure that our mission — the legacy of our sisters — continues for years to come,” says Bryan Lee, president of St. Mary’s Hospital. —Nati Feliciano-Soto
