Sentara has launched a new public dashboard that tracks the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients by hospital location.

This tool is to help the public understand trends of COVID-19 hospitalizations in your community. The data is updated daily, Monday – Friday. Data from these dashboards can help showcase current hospitalization trends among COVID-19 patients, and the percent of COVID-19 patients out of the total number of hospitalized inpatients.

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Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center is pleased to announce Alice Tang, DO, MPH, MBA as its new Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Tang joined Sentara Healthcare in 2017.

She was previously the Medical Director at Sentara Lake Ridge and co-director of the Stroke Program at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center before accepting this position.

“I am honored for this opportunity to serve Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center and the community in which it serves,” says Dr. Tang. “I am excited about promoting Sentara’s mission to improve health every day by enhancing the environment in which patients receive their care, but also by how physicians and Advanced Practice Providers provide patient care. I want to use my experience and skills to truly foster partnerships between patient and provider.”

Dr. Tang is a Maryland native. She completed an Master of Public Health & MA in Medical Sciences at Boston University before completing medical school at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine.

She trained in Emergency Medicine at University of Maryland Medical System and is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine physician.  She earned her MBA in Healthcare at George Washington University.

Kathie Johnson, President, Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center shared, “Many of us have worked with Dr. Tang. We know she is a strong leader with a vision for quality and a caring approach to patients and co-workers.

We look forward to her bringing her expertise and experience to the Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center Leadership team.”

Cemeteries are important links with Stafford’s history, but they are often targets for vandals.

For over three centuries, Stafford was a rural area, its landscape dominated by quiet fields of cattle and sheep and forested hills.

Dotted over the whole were modest farmhouses, outbuildings, ponds, and fences. Most farms included a family cemetery just a short distance from the house.

Inscribed headstones were a luxury few could afford and in Stafford’s 400 or so known family cemeteries. Most graves were marked simply with pieces of rock.

“Aunt Sue” or “Granny” kept up with who was buried beneath which rock. Many of these cemeteries were forgotten as families died off, moved away, and farms were sold. Rampant development has resulted in the loss of countless small family plots.

The Stafford County Historical Society is currently working with the Stafford Cemetery Committee to repair and re-install one such marker. This is for Lucy (Latham) Ennever (1777-1852).

Lucy’s beautifully carved marble stone was removed from its cemetery years ago and taken to a house in Richmond. Thanks to John Shuck of the Henrico County Historical Society, Lucy’s marker has come back to Stafford. It will be returned to the family cemetery, where her footstone still stands next to the grave of her husband, Joseph Ennever (1770-1848).

This marker requires professional repair before it can be reinstalled in its proper place. It will cost $3,900 to repair, clean, and reset the stones, including removing two trees from the gravesite.

The Stafford County Historical Society is accepting donations for this and future gravestone repairs. You may donate online, or you can mail a check to:

Treasurer
SCHS
P. O. Box 1664
Stafford, VA 22555

Submit your community post here.

Local Artist and Teacher Deb Balestreri is thinking bigger!

Balestreri has been teaching for the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg since 2009, at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton since 2008, and in her home studio since 2020, but she is ready to make a more permanent, community, location happen, right here in Stafford.

On August 1 Balestreri launched a Kickstarter to help raise funds to begin the build-out of a new Community Arts Center in Stafford and it’s well on its way to seeing success.

Balestreri wants the community of Stafford to know, this would be a center for them and their families and she’s offering some sweet campaign benefits when you pledge support.

Time is of the essence though and the pressure is on because she has only 35 days to meet her goal of $40,000 to make this dream center happen.

Visit her campaign, pledge your support, share with your neighbors and help spread the word! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/corgiclay/corgi-clay-arts-center

Submit your community post here.

With new equipment comes new beers.

The Water’s End Brewery in Woodbridge upgraded some of its brewing equipment this month. The brewery took to  Facebook to announce it had received new fermenters at its Potomac Mills location, which can ferment 20 bbls or barrels.

So what does this mean?

U.S. breweries measure beer volume in barrels. The conversion from one U.S. barrel is 31 gallons, allowing the brewery to create 620 gallons per batch.

Now, Water’s End can offer more and different beers to their customers than they have in the past. The first brews to come out of the new fermenters will be big batches of popular summertime beers ‘Trip to Tahiti’ and ‘HopDrop’. Both beers will be offered on tap and in six-packs of 12-once cans.

The brewery also announced the return of two of their classic brews, The Greatest Beer in the World (A Tribute), named after the song The Greatest Song in the World (A Tribute) folk-metal band “Tenacious D.”

Water’s End Brewery Potomac Mills location just across from the shopping mall, at 14397 Potomac Mills Road in Woodbridge. The brewery also has another nearby location at 12425 Dillingham Square in Lake Ridge.

June is Men’s Health Month.

• It’s not uncommon for men to neglect their health and let annual appointments fall to the wayside.

As a Sentara Medical Group physician, Dr. Gurwinder Singh tells us some conditions worsened with time and often men will live with the pain before addressing it.

What is a primary care provider & why is it important to have one?

• A primary care physician (PCP) is a health care professional who practices general medicine. PCPs are the first stop for medical care.
• Primary Care Providers provide preventative care, diagnose, and treat majority of acute conditions and manage ongoing chronic conditions.
• Typically, a PCP serves as a “quarterback” for an individual’s medical care, referring the individual to more specialized physicians for specialist care if necessary.
• It is important to have a PCP because they can catch potential health problems early, before they become severe. A PCP can help an individual stay healthy for long term.

When should you see a primary care provider?

• If you are healthy and have no chronic conditions, you should see a PCP once a year for routine annual physical/preventative care visit and routine labs.
• If you have ongoing chronic conditions, you might need to see your PCP more often, it may range from every month to every 6 months, depending on the severity of the condition.

What can men do to stay healthy and prevent disease?

• Following a healthy diet and exercising regularly will definitely help to stay healthy and prevent many diseases.
• Men should visit their primary care physician regularly, at least once a year, even if they feel completely healthy

What type of yearly health screenings should men get?

• Annual physicals/preventative care visits, screening for high cholesterol and diabetes, once a year prostate cancer screening and discussion with their primary care provider.
• When does a pain go from “oh, I over-extended that…” to “I better get to the doctor’s…”
• For any symptoms that is not subsiding in few days, men should seek medical attention. You never know if there might be a serious underlying medical condition that will remain undiagnosed and will get more severe if they don’t see their Primary Care Provider intime.

Should men be worried if they have a pain in their testes?

• Yes, always. If there is constant pain in the testes, it is often the result of medical issues that will require treatment.
• Various cause of testicular pain are epididymitis, or inflammation of the testicles, a hydrocele which is characterized by swelling of the scrotum, kidney stones, orchitis, or inflammation of the testicle, a spermatocele, or fluid in the testicle, a varicocele, or a group of enlarged veins in the testicle.
• In some instances, pain in the testicle can be caused by a severe medical condition known as testicular torsion.
• In this condition, the testicle becomes twisted, cutting off blood supply to the testicle.
• This can cause damage to the tissue.
• Pain in the testicle is rarely caused by testicular cancer.
• Testicular cancer typically causes a lump on the testicles that’s often painless.

Should men take testosterone supplements as they age? What about their vitamins or supplements?

• No, it is not advised to take testosterone supplements as men age.
• There is no conclusive studies to date to support use of testosterone supplements as men age, unless there are underlying medical conditions which are causing decrease in testosterone levels.
• As long as healthy diet with adequate nutrients is being followed regularly, there is also no need for any vitamin or any other supplements.

Need a Primary Care Physician? Visit iwantsentaramedicalgroup.com or call 703-523-1720 to find a provider that is right for you and schedule your appointment today.

May is Women’s Health Month. Every year, May is recognized to help raise awareness for health-related issues and important topics for women of all ages – especially individuals preparing to expand their families. Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center wants to make virtual childbirth and newborn parent education available for the community.

From now until January 10, 2022, Sentara is offering these classes for free. Prenatal education classes are not just for first-time moms, even seasoned parents and grandparents can learn something new. Childbirth classes and other parenting online classes can instill confidence and help manage expectations.

Currently, for the health and safe of our babies and families, the Women’s Health Center at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center is not offering in-person maternity tours. Instead, we are offering an online tour and a variety of virtual childbirth classes.

“The safety of our moms, babies and team members is a priority here at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center,” explains Beverly Wainman, MSN, RNC-EFM, Director Women’s Health Center Patient Services/Nursing. “The Women’s Health Center is offering these self-paced classes for our new parents, because we realize, soon, parents won’t have the flexibility to adjust their schedules. We want to not only empower, but prepare families.”

Here is a list of the FREE classes, along with the codes needed for access:

• Understanding Birth ENGLISH eClass:  snvmcubecen
• Understanding Birth SPANISH eClass:  snvmcubecsp
• Understanding Fatherhood eClass:  snvmcufecen
• Understanding Your Newborn ENGLISH eClass:  snvmcuynecen
• Understanding Your Newborn SPANISH eClass:  snvmcuynecsp

Please note: codes must be entered in all lower-case letters.

Below, are the login instructions for these particular classes:

1. Go to injoyonline.com
2. Click CREATE ACCOUNT button
3. Set up your account by entering your first name, last name and email address
4. Enter/Create a password
5. Enter password you created to confirm
6. Enter access redemption code: (this code is for one-time use only)
7. Click VALIDATE button
8. Check box next to “I Agree to the Terms & Conditions”
9. Click COMPLETE button

Be sure to bookmark this website for quicker access

Please create one account per family. This access code is a one-time use and will give you access to your selected eClass. For future use, go to www.injoyonline.com, and log in with your email address and password. You’ll have access to the eClass for 9 months after you first log in.

To tour Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center and the Women’s Health Center, visit our online videos at:

Welcome to Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center

Virtual maternity tour

Why our team loves working with you

Why choose the Women’s Health Center

Birth Navigator & Lactation Consultant services

Advice for new moms

If you have any questions regarding Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center’s Maternity services, call our birth navigator at 703-523-0582 or visit sentara.com/maternity.

A Woodbridge woman is honoring her stillborn daughter’s life and the team who helped her through the experience.

Friday, March 26, 2021, should’ve marked Danielle Burmeister’s 10th birthday. Instead of a party with balloons and cake, her mom, Kelly, donated books on mourning and loss to the Women’s Health Center at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.

“This is important to me for a couple of reasons. I want to honor the nurses that took care of me and my family during this incredibly difficult time. I want to make sure others are aware of things they could do if they find themselves in this unfortunate situation. Having books to share with siblings that are facing this is important. Especially since having a clear mind and knowing what to say to your other children can be challenging,” explains Kelly Burmeister.

While most pregnancies are problem-free, Kelly’s not alone. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, stillbirth affects about one in 160 births. It’s estimated about 24,000 babies are stillborn in the U.S.

“We’re honored Kelly thought of the Women’s Health Center for this special donation,” says Beverly Wainman, MSN, RN, Director Women’s Health Center Patient Services/Nursing. “Sentara is committed to our patients’ mental and physical well-being; I’m proud our team helped her through this tough time. It’s just one more way we improve health every day.”

At the time, Kelly had been pregnant with her second child. The pregnancy had been going well up until the 27th week, when doctors could no longer hear the heartbeat. She delivered the stillborn baby, who she and her husband named Danielle.

“The Sentara nurses were a blessing.  Each nurse I interacted with was incredibly empathetic, caring, and supportive.  They all had calm and patient demeanors and were there for me, no matter what.  Additionally, they placed a yellow rose on the door to my room so everyone knew that our baby had passed away.  I felt like they (the nurses) were family,” remembers Kelly.

Kelly remembered those acts of kindness when she was pregnant with her daughter, Allie, in 2013, “One of the nurses recognized my name and made adjustments to her schedule so she could be a part of the delivery. I was so touched it makes me tear up just thinking about it.”

More information is available for those who would like to honor a loved one at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, click here.

Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center is taking the next step in advanced surgery with the launch of the Total Ankle Program. This state-of-the-art, revolutionary program from the Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center Foot & Ankle Center of Excellence assists patients and gets them on their feet and back to their lives sooner.

“Total Ankle Replacement is a procedure to replace a damaged ankle joint, particularly those in end-stage arthritis to help reduce pain, swelling and help return the patient to a more natural stride,” says Robert Toomey, III, DPM, Vice President of Potomac Podiatry Group.

Traditionally, a total ankle replacement is used for end-stage arthritis patients. Previously, this procedure was recommended for patients older than 65. Now, because of advances in the procedure and the materials used in a replacement, patients in their 30s are successfully having the procedure performed.

“Foot & Ankle specialists have increased their understanding of limb and ankle alignment, and motion, which contributes to more efficient and anatomical ankle replacements,” explains Dr. Toomey. “Almost every implant is now created specifically for the individual after having a CT scan to determine the patient’s limb alignment, length, and bony deformities.”

The Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center team is specialty trained to treat and care for patients before, during, and after this advanced procedure. Sentara is excited to bring this level of care and advanced ankle treatment to Prince William County and surrounding communities.

“We’re excited our patients and community won’t have to travel for care,” explains Kathie Johnson, President, Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center. “Our specialty trained team – from physicians and nurses to surgical team technicians and therapists – are ready to help our patients through every facet of this procedure. From discharge and recovery to therapy and rehabilitation. We’re here for our patients every step of the way.”

Dr. Toomey agrees, “I want to educate patients regarding their options and provide them with exceptional care should an ankle replacement be required. Total Ankle Replacements are usually only used after all conservative treatments, like physical therapy and/or injections, have failed. If conservative treatment has failed, we are more than happy to help the patient come up with appropriate treatment options, offer second opinions, and ultimately provide surgical intervention, if required.”

To learn if the Sentara Total Ankle Program is right for you, call 1-855-704-FOOT (1-855-704-3668) or click here for more information.