Inova Loudoun Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Leesburg marks 30 years in the community

Inova Loudoun Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Leesburg threw itself a 30th birthday party Aug. 31. Well-wishers included the center’s staff and patients, Inova Loudoun Hospital CEO Randy Kelley, three mayors, Ladies Board 20-year veteran Betty Lowenbach and a gaggle of local politicians with an eye to the November elections.

Kelley kept the comments short so the crowd could proceed to the birthday cake and cookout party on the patio in back, with music from Dixie Moon Band.

“It’s a big deal,” Kelley said, “when you think of the thousands of people who have walked through these doors. A lot of people have received exceptional care in this facility.”

Elizabeth Kaeser, administrator of what was formerly Loudoun Long Term Care, gave credit to a staff – about 50 nurses and 50 certified nursing assistants – that “comes in eager and driven” every day.

Kaeser has been with Loudoun Hospital, before the addition of Inova to the title and management team, for 20 years. In 1995, she became director of nursing at the long-term care facility, and in 2001 became the administrator.

“This nursing home strives to fulfill its mission to provide safe and progressive high quality care to residents in a homelike environment,” she told the crowd Wednesday. “We work diligently to provide caring and compassionate services to medically frail elderly and disabled residents.”

The biggest change over the years, Kaeser said, was the addition of rehabilitation services in 1995. Prior to that, it was a long-term care facility for the aged and disabled.

Today, of the 100 beds, 32 are for rehabilitation. “That unit has just grown and blossomed,” Kaeser said. “It’s a benefit to the hospital—patients can be discharged here for short-term rehabilitation then they’re back to the community. That’s been the biggest change.”

The other big change, Kaeser said, was the hospital’s move to Lansdowne in the late 1990s. “They left and we were out here on our own. But since then, this campus has come back to life and that’s been very exciting. We have the emergency room here, outpatient diagnostic imaging and the new physicians’ building. We’re getting ready to do a major renovation and expansion.”

Top on her wish list, Kaeser said, would be to expand the capacity of Inova Loudoun Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Most beds are full and there’s waiting list.

“If I had 20 beds tomorrow [Thursday], they would be full by Friday.”