Potomac News Online | Health & Social Services: Area hospitals grow with county, cities
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Prince William area hospitals continue to march toward the future by adding new medical care and facilities. There are a variety of services available to patients and numerous doctors representing many specialties.
POTOMAC HOSPITAL
Located at 2300 Opitz Blvd. in Woodbridge, Potomac has grown in its 33 years from 29 beds, 115 employees and 61 physicians to 153 patient beds, more than 1,000 employees and more than 250 medical staff members.
The hospital also has expanded and renovated many of its facilities. In 2000, the Century Medical Building opened and now houses Century Surgical Services, physician offices and rehabilitation services.
In 2003, the hospital held the official groundbreaking ceremony to begin construction of the “New Potomac Hospital,” a new four-story, 180,000-square-foot facility to be built on the hospital’s present campus. It will replace the current medical surgical facility, which dates to the hospital’s founding in 1972.
The new hospital will include at the ground level space for support services and an education center, plus three floors above for patient care.
The finished facility will be an addition of 30 beds to the already existing 153-bed facility. Construction on the new Potomac Hospital is scheduled for completion next year.
KidsCARE, a new children’s emergency services area, was finished and opened in 2003.
The labor, delivery and recovery rooms and Post Partum Unit have been renovated.
The newborn nursery, the transitional nursery for infants not ready to leave the hospital and the neonatal intensive care unit have also been renovated.
The hospital also renovated and expanded its Critical Care Unit. Potomac offers a full range of medical services including a cardiac evaluation center, which provides diagnostic tests, heart-risk evaluation, body composition analysis, cholesterol screenings and blood pressure screenings.
It also has magnetic resonance imaging services, health education including maternity and wellness classes, a physician referral service, an out-patient surgery center, a progressive care unit, laser surgery and full maternity services.
The hospital offers a cancer center and a Family Health Connection Mobile Clinic. Nurse practitioners from the hospital work out of two vans providing primary health care to residents in the Woodbridge/Dale City area and the Triangle/Dumfries areas.
The nurses provide physical examinations, vision and hearing screenings, growth assessments, blood pressure checks, immunizations, basic medical care and health information.
To find a doctor, register for a class or for additional information, call Potomac’s Health Connection at (703) 221-2500.
Potomac Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. For more information, visit its Web site at www.potomachospital.com.
PRINCE WILLIAM HOSPITAL
Prince William Hospital is a non-profit community hospital at 8700 Sudley Road in Manassas.
Established in 1964, the 170-bed hospital offers a full range of inpatient and outpatient services, including medical, obstetrical, pediatric, surgical and critical care.
The hospital also has a Fitness Center that offers a comprehensive fitness program and a Wellness Center that offers community safety courses and maternal child health programs as well as courses in nutrition and diabetes management.
To meet the healthcare needs of the growing community, the hospital is in the midst of major expansions and renovations.
In July, the hospital opened a new Emergency Room, doubling the treatment rooms to 44.
The facility features three separate care areas, one specifically designed for young children. Another is for critically ill patients and the third is for the care of minor injuries or illnesses.
To prevent the transmission of airborne diseases, the ER has wireless bedside registration.
In addition, a 20,000-square-foot outpatient surgery center is being built on the hospital campus. A joint venture between Prince William Health System, the parent company of the hospital, and a group of surgeons, this facility is being designed as a one-stop center for outpatient surgery and physician office visits.
When it opens this fall, it will feature four operating rooms; four special procedure rooms for minor surgical procedures; private patient recovery areas; waiting areas for families; and a separate patient discharge door.
Also this fall, the hospital will begin construction on new operating rooms as well as a renovation of the radiology department.
To accommodate young families, the Hylton Family Birthing Center opened in 2003.
It features 32 private post partum rooms. To ensure privacy and comfort, each room features a private bathroom with seated shower and a pull-out sofa bed so that dad can spend the night. Each room is also equipped with a TV, videocassette recorder, phone and Internet access. In the case of an emergency, board certified neonatologists staffs the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Off campus, the hospital is partnering with Fauquier Hospital to build a Cancer Center in Gainesville.
The facility will combine comprehensive treatment with medical oncology and radiation therapy. Ground was broken in May and it is scheduled for completion next year. It is halfway between the two hospitals at the intersection of Route 29 and Lake Manassas Drive.
In the past year, the hospital’s 32-bed Center for Psychiatric and Addiction Treatment has undergone major renovations and expansions. It offers crisis intervention, detoxification and inpatient and outpatient services for adolescents and adults.
Apart from construction, the hospital is moving toward going paperless. It has switched to the Meditech Computer System and, at this time, is going live with Meditech’s Patient Charting System. With this change, patient chart entries can be done at the at the patient’s bedside. Doctors will be able to access their patients’ records from their laptop computers outside of the hospital.
The hospital’s Web site now allows patients to pre-register for various procedures online and to schedule appointments.
Last fall, the hospital’s Home Health department signed an exclusive contract with HomMed to provide home telemonitoring services for homebound patients.
It takes less than five minutes to collect a person’s vital signs such as blood pressure, oxygen saturation, weight and temperature. The data is automatically transmitted from a home-based monitor to the Home Health department for daily review. The data is also available to the patients’ physicians.
There are some 400 physicians representing 41 specialties on the medical staff at Prince William Hospital, which is JCAHO accredited.
A free physician finder service is available any time of the day or night by calling (703) 530-WELL. For more information, visit www.pwhs.org.