ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Northeast North Carolina is just weeks away from a new era of healthcare with the opening of Sentara Albemarle Medical Center.
The brand-new medical center has plans in place to expand much-needed access to healthcare in the seven counties it serves.
“This community has always traveled to Virginia, back and forth for health care," said Deborah Brite.
Deborah Brite and Willie Mae Overton are cousins who have both been involved in healthcare in Elizabeth City, the place they call home, for decades.
"We got a lot of family history here from the old Albemarle [Hospital]. My mom worked there in the 70s. My oldest daughter, she was born there in 1981. I have a grandson that was born in 2014," said Brite.
Both are excited to see the brand-new $278 million Sentara Albemarle Regional Medical Campus come to life.
“It’s to our advantage to have this type of service right here in our area," said Overton.
“Everything we need is going to be right here in this hub," said Brite.
This new chapter of healthcare will include 90 beds, a 24-hour emergency department, da Vinci robotic-assisted surgery, cancer & radiation therapy, 3-D mammography, advanced imaging, rehabilitation, primary care, a helipad for medflighted patients and more.
“It's a passion of mine to make sure small communities don't get less than what they deserve just because they're not in an urban setting. While the hospital is located in Elizabeth City, it serves seven counties in this region, and so it gives access to folks, and now what we've done is put it all in one location," said Teresa Watson, president of Sentara Albemarle Medical Center.
Another piece of the brand-new hospital is the safety aspect. In April, a man entered the current Sentara Albemarle Medical Center Emergency Department and pointed a gun at staff and Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who later shot and killed the man.
“I think we've learned a lot from that experience, but it wasn't things that we hadn't already planned for. The unfortunate part was the timing. We only have two entrances into the hospital, the main entrance and the emergency entrance. Both of the entrances will have weapons detection systems, which we had already planned to have," said Watson.
Sentara has also partnered with the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office on a Sentara-funded program that will provide additional law enforcement officers. It is a law in North Carolina that any hospital with an emergency department needs a law enforcement officer on campus.
“That would add additional dedicated officers to cover the hospital, and so that would be for the personnel, the equipment that they would need and vehicles, to be able to secure our campus," said Watson.
The new Sentara Albemarle Medical Center will open its doors on August 8. The community is invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a tour of the hospital on July 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., located at 3050 Halstead Blvd. in Elizabeth City.
