Stafford Hospital Center prepares to open its doors

STAFFORD — Medicorp’s community partners turned out Tuesday for a personal tour of Stafford Hospital Center, which will officially open at the end of the month.

MediCorp, the new hospital center’s parent company, also owns Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg.

“Without community partners giving their support to a project such as a brand new hospital, there is simply no way we would be here today,” said Stafford hospital administrator Cathy Yablonski. “A hospital in Stafford has been a long time coming for the citizens in the community and surrounding region…”

Yablonski said Stafford’s team is more than prepared to provide the best care possible to its patients.

Opening Feb. 27, Stafford Hospital Center will be Virginia’s first new hospital in more than 30 years.

It is located close to the intersection of U.S. 1 and Courthouse Road in Stafford on a 72-acre campus.

Approximately 350 staff members are preparing for the opening. That staff will consist of physicians in 18 specialty areas. There will also be additional doctor’s offices opening adjacent to the hospital — a 265,400-square-foot building.

On Sunday, the public got its own sneak peak of the new hospital when local residents were invited to an open house. Hospital staff took members of the public on tours of the hospital.

The three-hour afternoon open house allowed the public a chance to see what the hospital has to offer, including 100 inpatient beds, a full-service emergency department with 15 rooms, a birthing unit and MRI and CT scan facilities.

In addition to the tours, guests at the open house were treated to free blood pressure screenings, free lunches, a teddy bear clinic for children and a child passenger safety booth. They also enjoyed a live broadcast from B101.5 radio station and a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card.

Plans to build Stafford Hospital Center were announced in 2005, and ground was broken the following year.

“It is amazing when one realizes that fewer than three years ago we didn't have permission from the state to build this hospital and now we have a fully operational, $145 million life saving facility,” said
Stafford Supervisor Paul Milde, R-Aquia. “This economic engine is driving quality commercial development and high-paying job generation in the heart of Stafford. I couldn't be more delighted to have played a part in this.”

Cassandra Terrell, assistant director at the Department of Social Services, said that the hospital’s opening is “an economic shot in the arm for Stafford, with plenty of job opportunities in these hard economic times.”

Walt Kiwall, chief operating officer at MediCorp, said that Medicorp is “expanding its health-care capabilities and reach” with Mary Washington’s Level II Trauma Center status last year, and the opening of Stafford Hospital Center.