Inova to Loudoun: 100 years of promises kept

One hospital CEO, three mayors, one senator, one former senator, a supervisor and one supervisors’ chairman, a bank chairman and just about anyone else interested in health care in Loudoun gathered July 11 at the front entrance of the Inova Loudoun Medical Campus on Cornwall Street in Leesburg and greeted the beginning of a two-year multi-million dollar project to bring the facility into the 21st century.

For 80 years, from 1917 until 1997, when Loudoun Hospital moved to its new building in Lansdowne, this medical campus has been at the center of health care in Loudoun County, said Inova Loudoun Hospital CEO Randy Kelley.
“Today,” he said, “that tradition continues.”

When two doctors and a pharmacist founded Loudoun Hospital in 1912, Kelley added, they turned immediately to the ladies of the county for support. That has not changed, he said, and announced that the Ladies Board of Inova Loudoun Hospital has pledged to raise $1 million for the Cornwall Cares Campaign.

Dr. Ed Puccio, head of emergency services at the hospital, said phase I of the project includes a more than 3,000 square foot expansion of the emergency room and its trauma room, lab and radiology units -  for the first time since the ER opened in Leesburg, all 15 patient rooms will be private. They will be large enough, Puccio said, that if needed, a second bed could be put in.

Also included in phase I, expected to be completed in 2012:

• New laboratory
• New brick façade (which will match the brick work on the new medical office building that shares the campus) on the 1974 building
• Upgraded space for the Loudoun Community Free Clinic and Loudoun Child Advocacy Center, which will continue to occupy space donated by Inova
• Improvements to materials management, patient transport, security and the central plant

Phase 2 of the project, to be completed in 2013, includes renovation of the 22-bed Loudoun Adult Medical Psychiatric Services and addition of surface parking at the east wing.

“Inova Loudoun Hospital is mindful of the rich history associated with this site and the original promise made to care for the health and well being of Loudoun County,” Kelley said. “As we invest $32 million in renovation and construction to meet the emergency and outpatient needs of the county, we continue to fulfill our promise.”