Riverside Health System recently announced that its new medical campus in Onley, Virginia will be called Riverside Shore Health Services and that the hospital will be open to patients beginning at 7 a.m.on Feb. 25.
The transition from the current campus in Nassawadox to the new, state-of-the-art campus will take place over several days.
On Thursday, Feb. 23, the Riverside Shore Cancer Center will move operations to the new campus. On Friday, Feb. 24, the specialty physicians with Riverside Medical Group as well as Riverside's outpatient physical therapy services will move into the Riverside Medical Office Building.
The hospital's move day will begin on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7 a.m. with the opening of the emergency department (ED) with 13 private rooms. Newly arriving emergency patients will be directed to the new ED by signs and by parking staff. Also at 7 a.m. the Nassawadox ED will no longer accept new patients, and existing patients will have their care completed and be discharged to home or will be transported to the new hospital for admittance.
Beginning at 8 a.m. and every 10 minutes thereafter, a patient will be transported via ambulance to a beautiful private room with a view at the new hospital. The process is expected to last several hours and be completed in the afternoon.
It is vital that residents on the Shore make note of the date and time that the new hospital will open and the current hospital will close. Any patients seeking medical help after 7 a.m. on Feb. 25 must come to the new campus for medical assistance. The Nassawadox hospital will close at the exact same time the new hospital opens.
"Transitioning patients from one hospital to another is a big undertaking,"John Peterman, administrator of RSMH and vice president for the Eastern Shore, said of the inpatient move. "We have been planning this day for more than a year now. Patient safety is the most critical priority. We have plans and backup plans –we have considered every angle. We have expert consultants in this field who are leading us through every scenario they have experienced in their many years of opening new hospitals. We will practice with two dry runs in February. We will increase staffing for the days before and after the move so that each patient will have several pairs of watchful eyes on their safety."
The new $85 million Riverside Shore Health Services campus will include Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital, Riverside Shore Cancer Center and the Riverside medical offices for specialty physicians as well as outpatient physical therapy. It joins the roster of existing Riverside facilities on the Shore including:
Riverside Shore Rehabilitation Center in Parksley
Riverside Shore Medical Center at Metompkin just north of Parksley
Senior Perspectives in the Accawmacke Office Park
Riverside Shore Home Health and Riverside Shore Hospice
Riverside Cape Charles Medical Center
In the future, a primary and urgent care center in the current Riverside Shore Cancer Center in Nassawadox will round out Riverside's facilities on the Shore.
Riverside's investment in health care facilities on the Shore derives from its mission "to care for others as we would care for those we love –to enhance their well-being and improve their health."