Health system approves New Kent hospital
The 17,000-square-foot emergency hospital will be the rst in New Kent County. Photo by Jon Mirador
The VCU Health System Board of Directors approved plans last month to build an emergency center in New Kent County, Virginia.
The New Kent Emergency Center, which will be at Pocahontas Trail in Quinton, is set to open in 2020. It will be the county’s first emergency hospital.
The 17,000-square-foot center will have 24-hour emergency medicine physicians and nurses. It will also have laboratory testing and imaging services.
“New Kent County is a growing part of the Richmond metropolitan area but is currently underserved medically,” said Deborah Davis, VCU Health chief of strategic initiatives, in a news release. “The time is right to develop the county’s first emergency center.”
Del. Christopher Peace, whose district will house the New Kent emergency center, said in a news release that in addition to improving health outcomes for New Kent residents, the center will provide economic opportunities to the community.
“Part of our redesign of the health care delivery model is looking for the right partners to create access to care where people need it most,” said Marsha Rappley, CEO of VCU Health System and senior vice president for health sciences, in a news release. “The New Kent Emergency Center gives us the opportunity to partner with the community in this way, extending access to leading emergency and trauma care close to home.”
The new hospital is the latest in a string of development projects by the health system. VCU Health Systems announced in February plans to build an 86-bed, $350 million inpatient children’s unit in the main hospital downtown. Construction on that building will start this summer and is expected to end in 2022.
When that project was announced, VCU President Michael Rao touted it as benefiting the university’s strategic goal to be ranked among the top-20 in children’s health by 2022. Rao said he wanted it to be a destination for people across the state seeking quality care, as well as a landing spot for research and education-based opportunities.
Quinton is a small unincorporated community east of Henrico County and Richmond. New Kent has a population of about 20,000, according to the U.S. Census.
