Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital plans multi-phase expansion

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article inaccurately described Bon Secours’ St. Mary’s Hospital’s expansion as including plans to become a Level 1 trauma hospital. In fact, the hospital is not seeking that designation. The Citizen’s reporting referenced a statement made during the April 10 Henrico Planning Commission meeting by a Henrico planner, who told the commission that the hospital’s expansion was designed in part “to accommodate approval as a Level 1 trauma center.” St. Mary’s Chief Operating Officer Bridget Fitzpatrick spoke afterward at the roughly 25-minute hearing but did not correct or address that statement, so the Citizen had no reason to believe the original statement was inaccurate. Regardless, the Citizen regrets the error.

The Henrico Planning Commission has recommended approval of Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital’s multi-phase expansion plan.

A big piece of the expansion would be a new eight-story building to be located between the north and south towers of the existing building. The new building would exceed the current zoning’s limit of 110 feet in height, and the existing ground-level helipad would be moved to the top of the building; both changes require a provisional use permit from the county.

The total number of beds at St. Mary’s wouldn’t change, but the hospital would have more private rooms.

During a planning commission meeting April 10, St. Mary’s Chief Operating Officer Bridget Fitzpatrick explained that the expansion is meant to enable St. Mary’s to serve as the hub for all seven Bon Secours facilities in the region now and during the coming decades. The facility already has a shortage of beds in the intensive care unit, and the Richmond metro area population is expected to grow 5% during the next five years. The new building will permit the integration of new medical facilities and technologies.

One neighboring resident raised concerns about safety and noise from increased helicopter usage and whether it would affect property values. Fitzpatrick said that St. Mary’s will perform noise and vibration studies as part of the project and that the new location was both higher up and farther from neighboring homes. She also assured the commission that only medical helicopters would use the helipad and said she didn’t expect an increase from the average of 170 landings a year at the hospital currently.

Fitpatrick noted, too, that moving the helipad will also allow patients to be transported from the helicopter to an operating room more quickly and reduce safety concerns from shutting down street traffic and having medical staff move outside through cars and pedestrians.

The board of supervisors next will hear the hospital's provisional use permit request.