Sentara Lake Ridge, a standalone emergency facility, is now accepting ambulance patients as of February 4, 2025, expanding emergency medical access in eastern Prince William County. Previously, emergency medical service (EMS) vehicles were required to take patients to Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, a Level III Trauma Center.
This expansion aims to address the region’s growing healthcare needs and alleviate pressure on SNVMC’s emergency department, which treated over 50,000 patients in 2024. SLR, which served more than 23,600 walk-in patients last year, has invested in staff training and medical equipment to support this transition.
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Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center (SNVMC) has announced the launch of the Pritikin Intensive Cardiac Rehab program, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at supporting patients in making full and lasting recoveries following cardiac events. The program is rooted in three essential components—exercise, nutrition, and maintaining a healthy mindset—empowering patients to make informed choices that foster long-term health and well-being.
Designed to be both effective and sustainable, the Pritikin program incorporates a balanced diet that includes lean meats and fish as protein options, encouraging patients to explore flavorful, heart-healthy meals. Clinical dieticians guide participants in using spice blends and creative culinary techniques to make healthy eating enjoyable, ensuring adherence to the program’s principles.
The Pritikin program is tailored to aid recovery from a variety of cardiac events, including heart attacks, coronary artery bypass surgery, stenting or angioplasty, chest pain caused by angina, heart valve repair or replacement, heart or heart/lung transplants, and chronic heart failure. Its comprehensive approach equips patients with the tools and knowledge they need to maintain healthy habits and manage stress effectively.
Jeff Joyner, president of SNVMC, emphasized the program’s accessibility and its potential to create lasting impacts on patients’ lives. “The Sentara Heart & Vascular Center is pleased to offer the unique, non-invasive Pritikin program to patients in the community,” Joyner said. “It gives people the knowledge and tools to make good decisions around diet, exercise, and managing stress. The program is user-friendly, so patients are more likely to stay with it as a healthy lifestyle.”
Press Release:
Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center (SNVMC) recently achieved accreditation from SRC – Surgical Review Corporation – as a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology and Robotic Surgery. This accreditation recognizes SNVMC’s commitment and high standard of delivery of quality patient care and safety.
Status as an accredited Center of Excellence means that SNVMC has met nationally and internationally recognized standards. Not all hospitals and surgeons seek accreditation; not all that undergo the rigorous inspection process are granted accreditation.
SNVMC is the first Sentara hospital to have earned this accreditation.
“It’s important that the people in our community know of our dedication and commitment to providing the highest level of surgical services in Northern Virginia,” said SNVMC President Jeff Joyner. “Earning accreditation as a Center of Excellence by SRC is a reflection of the commitment to excellence across our hospital and the entire surgical team.”
Health care facilities and surgeons seeking an SRC accreditation undergo an extensive assessment and inspection process to ensure the applicant meets SRC’s proven standards and requirements. These requirements include surgical volumes, facility equipment, clinical pathways and standardized operating procedures, an emphasis on patient education and continuous quality assessment. Inspectors educate staff in the accredited departments on best practices to help an organization improve its care and services.
“We’re proud to recognize Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center for its commitment to advancing and providing quality care for all patients,” said Gary M. Pratt, CEO of SRC. “This accreditation signals that this facility is among the best in this specialty and is dedicated to delivering the highest level of care possible.”
Benefits of Robotic Surgery
SNVMC benefits from having the state-of-the-art da Vinci® robotic surgical system in use. This is a multi-armed precision tool that is used to perform gynecological and general surgery cases The device’s precision tools and a tiny lighted high-resolution camera are inserted through inch-long incisions, which contributes to quicker recovery for patients with less post-surgical pain.
The surgeon operates the system from a console near the operating table, looking through a viewer that magnifies the surgical site to ten times what the human eye can see.
In a Sentara Health Bites informational video, “Benefits of the daVinci® Robot in Gynecologic Surgery,” gynecology surgeon Alf K. Adler explains, “The term robotic surgery is very misleading to people. It’s not the robot doing the surgery. The surgeon is in control of the system. Many of our patients are able to go back to their homes the same day.”
Dr. Adler outlines other benefits to robotic surgery:
- Incisions are smaller with less scaring [sic]
- Bleeding is less
- Pain is significantly less
- Incidence of infection and other complications are much lower
- Recovery is phenomenally quicker
From minimally invasive surgical procedures to highly complex in-patient surgeries, Sentara’s board-certified surgeons provide a full range of procedures. To learn more, visit www.Sentara.com/surgery.
On Sept. 25, Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center (SNVMC) in Woodbridge celebrated the new mural recently completed by a local artist, Alethea Marie Robinson.
SNVMC President Jeff Joyner had the idea to have a mural throughout the hallway entering the north side of the hospital from the employee parking lot. Instead of a regular hallway, this one is now adorned with vibrant colors, flowers and butterflies.
“When creating this design, I wanted to reflect two of the most gratifying elements of working in healthcare: the love of helping people and the joy of working with the team,” Robinson said of her inspiration. “I included scenes of employees and patients surrounded with bright, happy colors in a garden atmosphere. It is also filled with butterflies that represent hope, recovery and transformation.”
Robinson began painting the mural in June and it took her several weeks to complete.
“[Robinson’s] skills as an artist and her ability to turn ideas into beautiful and inspiring imagery made her the perfect artist to take on this special project,” Joyner said. “And the fact that she is a local artist makes it that much more personal and powerful.”
The ribbon was cut by the three longest-tenured employees of SNVMC: Janice Carneal, who has been with the hospital for 49 years; Tania Brown of 38 years and Shirley Conley of 41 years with the hospital. Many employees were also in attendance for the ceremony.
Sentara Health has announced a technology rollout to enhance clinician-patient interactions across its network. All 12 hospitals, including Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center (SNVMC) in Woodbridge, have nearly 6,000 specialized smartphones designed to improve workflow and patient safety.
These devices are engineered to consolidate multiple tools—walkie-talkies, basic phones, pagers, and computer carts—into one device, allowing clinicians to focus more on patient care and less on juggling equipment.
Christy Grabus, SNVMC’s chief nursing officer, emphasized the positive impact of this integration. “This phone improves workflow and patient safety,” Grabus said in a press release. “All of this helps us prioritize and spend more time at the bedside with our patients.”
The smartphones are expected to speed up emergency admissions, shorten hospital stays, and hasten nurse response times. Furthermore, the phones aim to decrease ambient noise from alarms and bells, reduce staff movement within the hospital, and enhance the turnaround time for radiology scans.
On Friday, August 30, 2024, the parking lot of Winners Church at 17877 Old Triangle Road transformed into a bustling center of health and wellness. Community members gathered for a comprehensive health fair aimed at providing crucial medical screenings and education to the uninsured and underinsured.
The event, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., was a partnership between Winners Church and Sentara Healthcare, marking a new collaborative effort to enhance community health services. This year’s fair featured a vital addition—a mobile mammogram van from Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center offering free cancer screenings.
Kolawole Fagbenro, an associate pastor at Winners Church, explained the motivation behind the event: “We focus a lot on the community. Today, we’re doing blood pressure and cholesterol checks. We’ve partnered with Sentara; they have a mammogram van here for people without insurance, which is vital as mammograms are expensive.”
This was the first time Sentara participated, bringing not only the mammogram services but also connecting attendees with further medical support. “This is the first time we have mammograms involved, which is crucial as they are expensive, especially if you don’t have insurance,” Fagbenro added.
Winners Church, known for its diversity and holistic approach to spirituality and health, sees this fair as an extension of its mission. Fagbenro emphasized the church’s role: “We take a holistic approach to the gospel, considering both the physical and spiritual health of our congregation. This health fair is one way we can use our community of nurses and doctors to give back.”
Heather Byrne, a representative from Sentara, highlighted the importance of such events for cancer prevention and early detection. “Sentara is helping to sponsor this health fair to get wellness checks, cancer prevention, screenings, and education out to those who are uninsured or underinsured in our community,” Byrne said. She also noted the advancements in cancer treatment, underscoring the importance of early detection through screenings.
The fair addressed not just the lack of insurance but also a gap in health literacy. Byrne shared insights into the local challenges: “Many don’t know about the screenings available or can’t access them. This includes crucial tests like mammograms and colonoscopies.”
Dumfries resident Mary Stephens, who attended for a mammogram, expressed her gratitude: “It’s not something I can do perfectly on my own, so these services are crucial for my safety.”
The health fair provided essential services and strengthened the community’s bonds, offering a space where residents could come together to support one another’s health and well-being.
In a significant expansion of its healthcare services, Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center is set to open a state-of-the-art Cardiovascular Ambulatory Surgery Center, slated to begin operations in December 2024.
This center will be the first in Virginia and will focus on outpatient cardiac procedures. This move reflects the shifting trends toward ambulatory (outpatient) care settings in the medical field.
Enhancing Cardiac Care with Advanced Facilities
According to Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center President Jeff Joyner, the decision to establish the Cardiovascular Ambulatory Surgery Center stems from a growing need for specialized outpatient cardiac services in the region. Once fully operational, the center will partner with local cardiologists and is designed to serve 800 to 1,600 patients annually. The initiative aims to provide top-notch cardiac care and ensures that treatments are more affordable and accessible to the community.
The new center will be four miles from the main campus of the Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, located at 2300 Opitz Boulevard in Woodbridge. This proximity is expected to significantly ease patients’ access, reducing the need for travel and thereby minimizing the stress associated with receiving medical care.
New Residency Program to Address Healthcare Workforce Shortages
This development is part of Sentara’s broader strategy to address the healthcare needs of Northern Virginia, a region that presents unique demographic and medical challenges. The center is one aspect of Sentara’s $350 million investment over the next decade, including initiatives like creating a medical residency program to retain local medical talent, which will begin in 2026.
“Virginia is a net exporter of medical talent,” Joyner explained. “We lose many bright students to other states because they lack opportunities here. Our goal is to provide them a pathway to return and serve the very community they grew up in.”
The new program addresses specific gaps in hospitalist medicine, emergency medicine, and general surgery—which are notably underserved in Northern Virginia.
The residency program’s establishment aligns with Sentara’s ongoing efforts to enhance local healthcare services. This includes a recent $1 million upgrade to the emergency department at the Woodbridge facility, which aims to increase trauma care capacity and ensure patient safety with advanced security systems.
Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center (SNVMC) has been awarded the prestigious Magnet certification by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, an honor distinguishing it among the top tier of hospitals nationwide.
During a recent interview with Potomac Local News, Jeff Joyner, President of SNVMC, and Christy Grabus, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, they discussed the significance of this recognition. “Magnet certification is not an easy designation to obtain. It involves a rigorous, multi-year process emphasizing a commitment to nursing excellence and the highest quality of care,” explained Grabus.
The certification process typically spans about five years for first-time applicants and includes extensive data submissions and a comprehensive site visit. “It sets the stage to ensure that nurses have a voice in decision-making at the point of care,” Grabus added, highlighting the hospital’s democratic approach to staff involvement through multiple councils and teams.
Joyner emphasized the direct benefits to the community, stating, “Achieving Magnet status is not only about internal recognition but also impacts how we recruit top talent and improve patient care.” He noted that Magnet facilities attract professionals who are looking for a supportive and innovative working environment.
The hospital’s efforts to achieve this status were driven by a desire to enhance care quality and nurse satisfaction. “Our nursing team is integral, standing side by side with our patients every day, making their voices pivotal in our operations and community outreach,” Joyner said.
SNVMC’s Magnet recognition places it among the less than 10% of hospitals in the United States to hold this credential, underscoring its commitment to superior care and professional nursing practice. As part of the Sentara Healthcare system, which includes 10 hospitals with Magnet status, SNVMC continues to lead in setting standards for patient care and nursing excellence across the region.
The hospital has implemented a robust shared governance structure that includes the formation of six distinct councils, which have evolved from an initial two. These councils, along with several specialized teams, play a pivotal role in shaping patient care strategies and operational policies. “These councils and teams allow for a flow of ideas and ensure that everyone’s voice can be heard, from the ground level to system-wide initiatives,” Grabus stated.
The Sentara Century Building at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center in Woodbridge is closed today due to a gas leak affecting all medical appointments at this location. There are plans to update the reopening status later this afternoon.
The Sentara Century Building houses several specialty medical offices, including the Sentara Advanced Imaging Center Century, Sentara Cancer Network Resource Center, Sentara Internal Medicine Physicians, Sentara Surgery Specialists, and the Sentara Therapy Center Century. These facilities provide a range of services, from advanced imaging and cancer resources to internal medicine, surgical specialties, and therapeutic treatments, catering to the diverse medical needs of the community.
Press release:
The Sentara Century Building, located on the campus of Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center at 2280 Opitz Blvd. is closed today, due to a gas leak detected outside of the building. Washington Gas is currently onsite addressing the situation. There are no reported injuries to patients or medical personnel. However, all offices in the Sentara Century Building are closed for the day.
The closure affects patients who had scheduled appointments with the Sentara Imaging Center, Sentara Therapy Center, and Sentara Medical Group at the Century Building location. Patients will be contacted by staff to reschedule. People with appointments at the other medical practices located in the Century Building should expect to hear from their provider with information on rescheduling those appointments.
A notice on the status of the building’s operation for Tuesday, August 20, will be released later in the afternoon.
Visitors entering the main parking lot should proceed to the entrance near the Surgical Services Center to access the parking lot as the main entrance by Opitz Blvd. and Potomac Center Blvd., is closed for the day.
![The ribbon-cutting was completed by the three longest-tenured employees. L to R: SNVMC President Jeff Joyner, Janice Carneal, Tania Brown, Shirley Conley and Sentara President and CEO Dennis Matheis surrounded by team members. [Photo: Courtesy of Sentara]](https://www.potomaclocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/sentara-new-mural2024-1260x840.jpg){kind=link}
![Local artist Alethea Marie Robinson working on the mural. [Photo: Courtesy of Sentara]](https://www.potomaclocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/sentara-new-mural-2-2024-1260x840.jpg){kind=link}