What is the overall vision for Bon Secours?
To better meet the changing needs of our community, Bon Secours is introducing a model of health care that is founded on convenience, compassion and choice.
Bon Secours’ new model includes updating its aging Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center with a modern hospital that will include 124 inpatient beds and the services the community most needs, such as advanced imaging, emergency services, diagnostics and surgery.
By expanding its services in Virginia Beach and Suffolk, Bon Secours will ensure that Hampton Roads residents have a choice in hospital providers and have the opportunity to access a health hospital system based on faith, charity and compassion.
Bon Secours’ new model of health care will be driven by partnership – with our physicians and with the community. Only through partnerships will we improve the quality of care, ensure services for the underserved and maintain a vital, competitive health care system for the future.
In addition Bon Secours is committed to improving the health in our community by building health care town centers to ensure that care is delivered in the best possible way for the communities we serve. This new model will revolutionize how people think of health care facilities.
Why is Bon Secours making these changes?
Patients want better access and choice in personal health care services. To provide that care, we need to develop the infrastructure of our facilities. This will ensure that residents have a choice in health care providers and the opportunity to access a hospital that bases care on faith, charity and compassion.
The health care town center model is more accessible to the community and provides choices for your family's health care. Our employees and physicians can deliver services in a pleasant and efficient environment, and where our physicians can align as partners in the delivery of high quality health care.
What do we believe is the cause driving all these changes?
The health care industry has undergone a radical transformation over the past few years. Advances in technology, minimally invasive surgerical techniques, and ease of transportation have all resulted in a reduced need for the large centrally located hospital complex.
What is a Health Care Town Center?
A Health Care Town Center is defined by its spatial relationship to the existing business, surrounding residential neighborhoods, and the environment. The vision provides for multi-storied buildings, strategically placed pedestrian plazas and parking facilities organized around those services that meet a growing community’s health needs. Anchored by a hospital, the town center will also provide those services that promote healthy lifestyles; fitness, health, beauty, training, and education are just a few of the ideas for this innovative new concept.
The Health Care Town Center will not only provide access to physicians but also include additional avenues for building a healthy lifestyle including therapists, exercise physiologists, preventive care specialists, counselors, and chaplains.
How will Hampton Roads benefit?
Bon Secours is committed to improving the health of our community by partnering with key organizations to ensure that health care is delivered in the best possible way. These efforts focus on transforming our facilities into a place where employees are engaged, our physicians are aligned to provide the best in health care, our staff works with outside community programs for building a healthier lifestyle, and our community receives the highest quality services possible.
How will this change improve the quality of health care in the community?
Building facilities closer to the communities we serve is a good start, but does not address all the changes we are implementing. The health care town center concept will be a launching pad for more outreach efforts designed to build a healthier lifestyle through education, training, and less intrusive alternatives to surgery.
Will employees be impacted?
Bon Secours is proud of its employees and values their commitment to our patients. We will work with our employees to identify opportunities to transition to the new facilities or other positions in Bon Secours as changes are made. Our employees and our board will continue to be actively involved in planning of the new Bon Secours DePaul facility and hospital services in Virginia Beach and Suffolk.
Bon Secours has a long history of providing health care to the underserved. How will they continue this mission?
Bon Secours has a long history on caring for the poor and uninsured in our community. While the structure of the ministry will be changing how we provide this care, the commitment to addressing these needs will continue. Some of the ways we will address these community needs will be through partnerships with like-minded organizations. We are working with local agencies to provide a better model for care for the uninsured in a more sustainable, outpatient model.
Our mission and commitment to providing good help to those in need will never change.
How do the Sisters of Bon Secours feel about this plan?
The Sisters support providing care in the community in the manner that enhances the overall health of our community.
How will we tell the public about the changes & when?
All of our changes need approval through the state’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) process. Our employees, physicians and patients are our first priority. As we progress through these changes and as we learn more about the COPN application, our key groups will be informed of these changes. We will then communicate with our patients about changes in services and will communicate with the community at large by using a variety of tools to include but are not limited to news stories, updates on our web site, briefings (community briefings??), and one-on-one communications.
Why are we changing/aligning at the Medical Centers at DePaul/Virginia Beach/Suffolk?
The existing building at Bon Secours DePaul must be updated to be effective as a hospital. A new DePaul facility will need to be constructed to complete the transition to a new and better model of care.
In Virginia Beach we are committed to providing our community with a health care choice by developing a hospital on the Virginia Beach campus; Bon Secours can offer these services to our community that is currently only served by one provider.
In Suffolk, we desire to ensure that choice in health care providers’ remains and that the residents of Western Hampton Roads will have access to in-patient services. Currently, there is only one provider of in-patient care in Suffolk; Bon Secours is committed to providing a choice.
We want to provide services to people locally, improve access to specialist care, and make best use of staff and buildings.
Are we closing Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center?
No, Bon Secours DePaul is committed to serving the Norfolk community and continuing our rich history of more than 150 years of compassionate care. While our mission has remained the same over the years, technology and the desire to provide access to an effective and efficient health care model requires us to redesign the hospital. The current facility, built in the 1940’s and the fourth building to carry the St. Vincent DePaul name, will be updated. In the near future, a new facility will help us to better provide outpatient services, transition to electronic medical records and to continue the next phase of our ministry.
What is the process for creating a health care town center and when will it be completed? When will the reconfiguration take place?
This will depend on the certificate of public need applications. When the state approves our transformation plans, we anticipate opening the new Bon Secours DePaul and the new hospital in Virginia Beach in 2010. . We anticipate adding inpatient care to Bon Secours Harbour View in 2012.
How can I support this?
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, radio or TV station and ask them to highlight the importance of this change.
Write a letter to the State of Virginia Health Commissioner letting him know you support Bon Secours’ plan.
Robert B. Stroube, M.D., M.P.H.
State Health Commissioner
Virginia Department of Health
109 Governor Street
13th Floor
Richmond, VA 23219
