CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Chesapeake Regional Medical Center is preparing to open a new 36-bed neurology unit inside the Richard S. Bray Critical Care Tower to serve stroke and neurology patients. Hospital officials say they're still working to hire more nurses to staff the facility.
The new unit, called 6 South, has been in development for about five years and will expand the hospital's capacity to treat neurological conditions.
"The type of patients that we'll see here are, of course, our stroke patients, anybody with neuro-deficits, seizures, any type of brain surgery," said Kimberly Green, director of Acute Care Services at Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.
The facility is an upgrade of the hospital's existing 30-bed stroke unit on 6 West.
“We see a lot of stroke patients. So currently, right now, our stroke unit is 6 West, which is a 30-bed unit, and this unit will be called 6 South. And we’re going to a 36-bed unit. So we’ll have three pods of 12 beds each," Green said.
However, the expansion comes as hospitals nationwide face a critical nursing shortage. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, there's a national shortage of about 80,000 nurses in 2025.
"We are always hiring. As you know, in the United States, we're in a huge nursing shortage. It's not going anywhere any time soon," Green said.
Green believes physical and emotional burnout contribute to the staffing challenges facing the profession.
"I just want to bring people in, let them see our culture, because that's what we're known for at Chesapeake. Let them get to know us, ask us questions, see the unit, and see what we have as an organization," Green said.
The new neurology unit features several amenities designed to improve patient care and staff efficiency, including a dedicated elevator that allows direct transport to procedures without using the main hospital elevators.
"We have our own elevator on this unit, so we don't actually have to go out to the main elevator to take our patients down for procedures like CTs, MRIs, or to our neurovascular suite," Green said.
The unit also includes an on-site physical therapy gym specifically for neurology patients.
Green expects the neurology unit to begin accepting patients by the end of September or in early October.
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