Before designing Sentara CarePlex Hospital, we asked staff, doctors, and patients to tell us what features would make the care and the patients’ healthcare experience the best possible. We designed the hospital to support their answers.

The hospital features a family-centered design, highly advanced surgical capabilities, and the largest and most modern Emergency Department on the Virginia Peninsula. The ED has 53 patient rooms, with doors for privacy and comfort. The hospital is linked to the Hampton River Medical Arts Building, allowing easy access to physicians’ offices and other services.

Sentara CarePlex Hospital has 194 inpatient rooms (including 32 ICU beds), 10 operating rooms, and a six-bed labor and delivery department with 18 postpartum suites.

Miles of fiberoptics stream throughout the complex, poised for instantaneous transfer of digitally recorded life-saving information and readying the facility to accommodate future advances. All 10 surgical suites have “smart” technology that can listen and respond to a doctor’s orders. GetWellNetworké, a digital cable and Internet system, shows movies, delivers e-mail, and connects patients to personalized health information and education.

Innovative security systems in every department address important patient safety issues. Electronic nursing notes, “smart pharmacy” data systems, hospital-wide wireless telemetry, mother/newborn ID codes, concierges to welcome visitors, and other features add a reassuring level of security.

With all its technologic advances, the hospital still has a peaceful, soothing atmosphere. Its center courtyard, designed by Busch Gardens Williamsburg, offers a natural, open-to-the-sky environment, where visitors and patients can sit in the company of a waterfall and flowering gardens.

Project category: New construction & Remodel/Renovation (completed December 2002)

Chief administrator: Megan R. Perry, Administrator, (757) 736-2651

Firm: Sentara Healthcare, (757) 594-1011

Design team: James C. Snyder, AIA, President (Odell Associates); Megan R. Perry, Administrator; Carl W. Gaborik, Project Director; Debra A. Flores, Vice-President, Nurse Executive; Diana L. LoVecchio, Vice-President (Sentara CarePlex Hospital)

Photography: Steve Budman; Steve Morrisette

Total building area (GSF): 358,044 (new); 27,630 (renovation)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $180

Total cost (excluding land): $75,000,000