Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Health broke ground Oct. 1 on a $107 million hospital expected to open in 2026.
Four things to know about the project:
- The 42-bed, 100,000-square foot Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital will offer surgical services, intensive care and emergency services. It will include a catheterization lab, inpatient pharmacy and dialysis suite. It is being constructed on the same site as the original Halifax Regional Hospital, which will be torn down once the new facility is complete, local news outlets reported.
- A new helipad on hospital grounds is part of the construction project, which officials said will enable the hospital to transport patients in need of critical care more efficiently.
"This will absolutely save lives because of the time it will save," Terrance Truitt, MD, chief of staff at the hospital, said during the groundbreaking.
The current helipad is about half a mile away.
- Officials said the new facility will preserve access to advanced healthcare services in Southern Virginia at a time when nearly 30% of rural hospitals in the state are at risk of closure.
"The ability to not only modernize a healthcare facility but to be able to build a brand-new facility in a rural community just shows the commitment that Sentara has to the health and wellbeing in this community," Brian Zwoyer, DNP, RN, president of Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital, told ABC affiliate WSET.
- The new facility will not provide labor and delivery services, which the hospital cut last year due to declining birth rates.