Work is well underway on the Riverside Smithfield Hospital (RSH) project, following last year’s approval of the Certificate of Public Need (COPN) by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) to establish a full-service general acute care hospital in Isle of Wight County. This new 50-bed acute care facility will be built on land owned by Riverside Health System near the intersection of Routes US-258 and VA-10.
“We are so grateful for the ongoing support from our community partners, construction and architect teams, and our team members for Riverside Smithfield Hospital,” says Jessica Macalino, associate vice president at Riverside Regional Medical Center. “Once completed, Riverside Smithfield Hospital will address a critical need in our community by offering life-saving emergency and inpatient care, surgical services and a full range of diagnostic imaging and laboratory services.”
The four-year project to build RSH began as soon as Riverside received COPN approval from the VDH on March 18, 2022. Over the past several months, Riverside has reached several exciting milestones, including:
- Immersive design, which is a building planning process where the design teams constructed life-size model rooms so clinical teams can provide feedback on the proposed layouts.
- Ongoing review and selection of state-of-the-art clinical equipment and technology
- Initial site plan submitted to Isle of Wight County in March 2023
- Initial building plan submitted to Isle of Wight County in May 2023
After more than a year of planning and design, Riverside is excited to announce the official groundbreaking for RSH, which will take place on July 26, 2023. “This event will be a major milestone in the construction process for RSH and represents partnership in the truest form,” says Michael Dacey, M.D., president and CEO of Riverside Health System. “From the support Riverside has received from local community members, elected officials, EMS, our team members and so many others, this will be an important day to celebrate the work that has been completed thus far and look ahead to the completion of the hospital in late 2025.”
Over the next two years, Riverside will continue to move through the hospital timeline with key areas of work noted below:
- Summer 2023-Winter 2025: Construction of RSH
- Summer 2024-Fall 2025: Facility and clinical operations and recruitment
- Early 2026: Opening of RSH
Riverside is committed to keeping you updated on the timeline for RSH and sharing milestones as this project gets closer to completion.
For more information, photos, videos and details on the new hospital, visit riversideonline.com/rsh.