WILLIAMSBURG — Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center will soon launch a construction project in the lobby to enhance patient flow and create an ADA-compliant seating area for patients waiting to register.
Additionally, the Pineapple Gift Shop will expand its offerings and bolster stocks of the most popular and best-selling merchandise, according to Sentara.
The hospital will also add free valet parking.
The hospital, which opened in 2006, has become a regional care destination, Sentara said, and the original lobby design is inadequate to manage the number of patients currently seeking care.
“We sometimes have congestion at registration and there isn’t enough seating,
especially for patients with walkers and wheelchairs,” says Amber Price, President of the
hospital. “We’re going to add ADA-compliant seating and improve our process and
flow.”
The hospital currently posts a concierge at the front door to minimize congestion and help patients navigate the hospital, especially those with mobility issues, it said.
Adding to the potential for congestion is the Visitor Badging desk, where patients stop
before moving from the lobby into the hospital proper. Security presence and Visitor
Badging is the policy of every Sentara hospital to create a more respectful environment, it noted.
Spain Commercial of Yorktown designed the project and will do the construction, which
represents a $200,000 investment in patient flow, comfort and compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
“We’re excited to modernize the Pineapple Gift Shop,” Price adds. “We’re going to take
a corner of their floor space for patient and visitor seating and open the retail space to
enhance visibility for shoppers. We’ll add a coffee bar, a flower wall, and a balloon
counter, and we’ll keep the iconic pineapple logo laid into the floor when the hospital
was built.”
The former auxiliary ran the gift shop to raise funds for the hospital. When the auxiliary
disbanded during the pandemic, they gifted the hospital’s mammography program with their remaining funds and put the hospital in charge of the gift shop, which is now run by
one Sentara employee and a team of volunteers.
“We’re looking ten years down the road with this project,” Price says. “We’re a growing
regional medical center. Our lobby is our front door, and we want to make it as welcoming and inclusive as we can.”
In addition to the lobby project, Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center has
added an adult changing room for patients and visitors who need continence support.
The hospital was recently certified as the first sensory-inclusive hospital in Virginia for
patients and visitors with autism, ADHD and PTSD. The hospital’s emergency department is the only gold-level geriatric emergency service in Virginia, as certified by the American College of Emergency Physicians, Sentara notes.
A Zen Den for staff, and lactation rooms for staff members and visitors make the
hospital an inclusive workplace and community space, it added.
