Health Care
People come from all over Virginia—even out of state—to get medical care in Richmond. With its cutting-edge practitioners and facilities, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, the only academic medical center in central Virginia, is the big player in the area, with 500,000 outpatient visits, 30,000 admissions, more than 18,000 surgeries, and 80,000 people treated in the emergency room annually. As a teaching institution with medical, nursing, dental, pharmacy, and allied health schools, the medical center, which includes Medical College of Virginia (MCV) hospitals, produces highly trained health professionals schooled in the latest techniques each year, many of whom stay in the area when they graduate and work out of the area’s other hospitals, so excellent medical care is readily available. (The MCV/VCU monikers can be confusing; though a part of Virginia Commonwealth University, the MCV name keeps alive the proud tradition of the Medical College of Virginia that was founded here in 1838.)
For health care, downtown isn’t the only game in town. Besides VCU Medical Center, Richmond area hospitals are part of either Bon Secours Richmond Health System or Health Corporation of America Virginia Health System (HCA). The area has several comprehensive, award-winning hospitals and three Level III Trauma Centers, as well as rehabilitation and children’s specialty hospitals. Chesterfield, Henrico, and Hanover Counties all have hospitals within their boundaries, but people head in all directions to see doctors and practitioners they like. The private hospitals in the area keep growing, adding space and features, and gaining accolades. Just as VCU Medical Center can, the HCA Virginia and Bon Secours hospitals all over the region can trot out impressive awards, pioneering physicians, talented staff, and state-of-the-art facilities, too.
Overview
Four of the eleven hospitals below—Retreat, Parham Doctors’, Community, and the VA—do not provide a labor and delivery ward, but that still gives pregnant women seven great options for in-hospital childbirth. The hospitals that deliver babies offer a variety of birthing options for new mothers, from maternal/fetal specialists to midwives and doulas. All of the area hospitals seem to be in a constant state of renovation to keep up with the latest medical technologies. Paperless records are the trend in hospitals here, as is valet parking, believe it or not.
The referral list near the end of the chapter is just a starting place; ask friends, neighbors, and coworkers for their go-to list of providers. And though I hope you never need to use the emergency numbers listed at the end, better safe than sorry.
1. Clinical Services Home
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 482-5500
Address: 401 E. Main St.
2. Chesterfield Health Department
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 748-1691
Address: 9501 Lucy Corr Circle
3. Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 764-6000
Address: 8260 Atlee Rd.
Description: This 225-bed Hanover County hospital opened in 1998 and has received numerous accolades for its clinical excellence, cardiac care, and stroke treatment, among many other gold stars. HealthGrades recognized the hospital as among the top 5 percent in the U.S. for women’s health, awarding it a 2009/2010 Women’s Health Excellence Award. Its nursing care is acknowledged as excellent by the Magnet rating from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Physicians use the da Vinci Surgical System for minimally invasive procedures. Like all Bon Secours hospitals here, Memorial Regional has a no-wait care policy in its emergency room.
4. Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 225-1700
Address: 1500 N. 28th St.
Description: Richmond Community has been providing care to city and East End residents for more than 100 years. Recently renovated, this Church Hill hospital now offers state-of-the-art hospital beds in its 104 private and semiprivate rooms, including a dedicated 36-bed unit for acute psychiatric and detox stabilization. This hospital does not have labor and delivery. It has a no-wait care policy in its emergency room, which offers 24-hour emergency psychiatric evaluation.
5. Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 594-7300
Address: 13710 St. Francis Blvd.
Description: This may be the only hospital in the area whose interior design leaves an impression—wow, that’s a two-story waterfall in the lobby! With 130 rooms and growing, this newest hospital in the region, built in 2005, serves patients south of the James River, near the intersection of VA 288 and the Powhite Parkway. The 60,000-square-foot Bon Secours Cancer Institute at St. Francis is a freestanding facility that offers medical and radiation oncology as well as support services and thoughtful extras for both patients and families. The emergency room has 21 private bays for patients and a no-wait care policy.
6. Bon Secours St. Mary’S Hospital
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 285-2011
Address: 5801 Bremo Rd.
Description: Part of Bon Secours Richmond Health System, St. Mary’s has been serving Richmond-area patients since 1966 in its West End location just off Monument Avenue in Henrico County. With 391 private and semiprivate rooms, this hospital has received many accolades, including being named one of the 2009 Thompson Reuters top 100 hospitals for cardiac care. Its Heart Institute at Reynolds Crossing recently opened, and St. Mary’s is a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence as well as a Primary Stroke Center. It achieved Magnet Recognition status from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, which recognizes nursing excellence.
7. Cjw Medical Center/Chippenham Hospital Campus
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 320-3911
Address: 7101 Jahnke Rd.
Description: Known for its cutting-edge Levinson Heart Hospital, Chippenham is one campus of HCA Virginia Health System’s CJW Medical Center. The 466-room hospital has a Trauma Level III designation and just opened a Wound Healing Center in 2010 with two hyperbaric oxygen therapy chambers for treatment. It also offers Tucker Psychiatric Pavilion and a pediatric-specific ER as part of its full service emergency room.
8. Cjw Medical Center/Johnston-Willis Hospital Campus
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 330-2000
Address: 1401 Johnston-Willis Dr.
Description: Part of HCA Virginia Health System’s CJW Medical Center, the well-regarded, 292-room Johnston-Willis Hospital is just off Midlothian Turnpike in Chesterfield County. The hospital, a Primary Stroke Center, is also known for its Neuroscience and Gamma Knife Center. Since 1980 the Thomas Johns Cancer Hospital, on the Johnston-Willis campus, has provided the latest in oncology services to patients, and since 2009 its inpatient and outpatient care have been combined in a new building designed to make cancer care as convenient and comfortable as possible. Special services include a Cancer Recovery Exercise Program. Also in the building is the Foot and Hand Spa, the city’s only medical spa that focuses on hands and feet.
9. Henrico Doctors’ Hospital
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 289-4500
Address: 1602 Skipwith Rd.
Description: This 340-bed hospital is undergoing a $100 million expansion that will remake several departments, including the Emergency Department, Ambulatory Surgery Center, and Cancer Specialty Clinics. Parham Doctors’ Hospital and Retreat Doctors’ Hospital are considered (by their PR department anyway) to be campuses of Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, which has been providing high-quality care to area patients for three dozen years.
10. Parham Doctors’ Hospital
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 747-5600
Address: 7700 E. Parham Rd.
Description: Another part of the HCA Virginia Health System, this facility is home to an Express ER for minor injuries and illnesses as a part of its full-service emergency room. Its recently opened Orthopaedic Hospital features a Joint and Spine Center that combines the latest technology with hotel-like amenities to ease the stress of surgery. It does not offer inpatient obstetrics care.
11. Retreat Doctors’ Hospital
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 254-5100
Address: 2621 Grove Ave.
Description: The oldest hospital in Richmond, this Fan facility is considered a campus of Henrico Doctors’ Hospital and is part of the HCA Virginia Health System. All of its 227 rooms are private, and it has a full-service emergency room. Same-day appointments are available for outpatient diagnostic imaging, but you’ll have to have your baby somewhere else; there is no obstetrics ward here.
12. Hunter H. Mcguire Veterans Affairs Medical Center
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 675-5000
Address: 1201 Broad Rock Blvd.
Description: Serving veterans since 1946, McGuire is a 409-bed teaching and research hospital on Richmond’s South Side. It provides medical and surgical care for more than 200,000 veterans from central and southern Virginia and parts of North Carolina. One of only four poly-trauma rehabilitation centers in the U.S., McGuire opened its transitional rehab center in 2010, especially important for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Telephone care is available 24/7 for veterans at (804) 784-8381.
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Address: 1250 E. Marshall St.
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Address: 2924 Brook Rd.
15. Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital Of Virginia
City: Richmond, VA
Category: Health Care
Telephone: (804) 673-4434
Address: 5700 Fitzhugh Ave.
Description: This 40-bed acute-care hospital that treats orthopedic, neurological, pulmonary, and other conditions has private and semiprivate rooms in the West End near both St. Mary’s and Henrico Doctors’ Hospitals. It provides physical, occupational, and speech-language therapies for patients on the mend on an inpatient or outpatient basis. HealthSouth has several other area clinics and rehab centers throughout the region. Check their Web site for more details.