NEWPORT NEWS — Riverside Regional Medical Center on Wednesday night announced the addition of three floors to its Pavilion as part of its $75 million expansion project.
The announcement was made during the hospital’s open house in Newport News. It was streamed on Facebook Live.
The medical center, located off J. Clyde Morris Boulevard across Christopher Newport University, was built in 1963 and has undergone three major renovations since, the most recent in 2013, when Riverside built two floors at the Pavilion.
The first floor is filled with multiple operating rooms; the second floor houses the ICU and surgery rooms. In total, both floors include 72 new beds and surgical suites, said Mike Doucette, senior vice president and administrator of Riverside Regional Medical Health Center.
The project which started in June 2016, added three more floors to the existing Pavilion, an additional 150,000 square feet.
Jordan Construction was the contractor for the project. The nurses and caregivers at Riverside provided input into the overall layout of the three hospital floors.
The new third floor is considered “mechanical” and takes care of the building’s air conditioning. The fourth and fifth floors contain 144 private patients rooms. Each of the rooms is large enough for families to stay overnight and includes various amenities such as a sleeper sofa, Doucette said.
“We are are financing (the project) through tax-exempt bonds,” said Peter Glogola, Riverside Health System’s spokesman.
Some of the funds were used for other units at the hospital, such as expansions of the orthopedic trauma center, Medical Intensive Care Unit and Cardiac Care Units, and a new neurological unit for stroke care. Some were used for upgrades in technology for patient rooms.
Construction ended in July and Riverside has been installing new technology and training staff ever since, Glagola said.
The Pavilion will officially open Sept. 10.
