Emergency dept. to open early at Va. Beach hospital

VIRGINIA BEACH

Sentara Princess Anne Hospital’s emergency department will open for business next Thursday, a week before the new hospital’s formal opening on Aug. 4, Sentara Healthcare officials said.

After nearly five years in its current location, the free-standing 24-hour emergency department on the Sentara Princess Anne campus will move across Glenn Mitchell Drive to the new location. It will be open for patient care at 6 a.m. Thursday.

“We want to get accustomed to our new space before the hospital opens,” the emergency department’s medical director Dr. Ed McLaughlin said in a written release.

Patients who need to be admitted to a hospital during the week before the new Sentara Princess Anne facility opens will be transported by ambulance to the appropriate hospital, McLaughlin said.

Sentara Princess Anne’s free-standing emergency department typically serves more than 150 patients a day.

The new hospital’s emergency department will feature 36 beds and 11 private “clinical decision” rooms where patients can remain under observation for up to 48 hours.

Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com