Following a successful summer in its ongoing quest for further expansion, Albemarle County's Martha Jefferson Hospital celebrated the opening of its brand-new Outpatient Care Center last Tuesday.
The OCC's opening followed closely on the heels of the Aug. 15 Albemarle Board of Supervisors vote approving plans for a new hospital, which is slated to be completed within the next 10 years.
Plans for the creation of the OCC began in 2001 with the intention of meeting the need to decompress services at the hospital, according to OCC Director Barbara Elias.
"Our vision is to provide a new level of customer service," Elias said. She added that the high quality and technology of the $17 million center will serve to ultimately enhance the healthcare experience for the patients.
Designed for outpatients whose condition does not require admission to the general hospital, the OCC will include a variety of services including women's midlife care and breast health, physical and occupational therapy, prenatal diagnosis and open-magnet MRI.
An additional Urgent Care Center also is scheduled to open in early November, which will be exclusively geared toward outpatients.
Another unique feature of the OCC is the new Outpatient Surgery Center. The Surgery Center will allow patients who do not need an overnight hospital visit to have low risk surgeries performed within the span of one day, which will serve to further decentralize the hospital's overall services.
Elias also added that the new OCC will include lease space for private practices to operate within the facility.
The opening of the OCC marks the beginning of Martha Jefferson's eventual relocation to Peter Jefferson Place, where the hospital will have enough room to continue expanding. According to Elias, the hospital's current location prevents it from providing patients with the best services possible.
"We can't build up or down or out," said Elias. She added that as the hospital's patient population continues to increase in size and age, the mounting demand for services requires further expansion.
According to Nursing School Dean Jeanette Lancaster, the expansion of Martha Jefferson Hospital will have a very positive effect on the nursing program at the University.
"Martha Jefferson has always been a place we use for clinical studies," she said. "We have always worked closely" with the city hospital.
Praising what she called a very far-sighted administration at the hospital, Lancaster added that the program's partnership with the hospital helps to finance the faculty, which additionally helps to add more students to the Nursing school.
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