Access to optimal medical services
From life’s minor aches and pains to serious injuries and illnesses, residents in Halifax County have access
to one of the top providers in the state, Sentara Healthcare.
Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital, accredited by DNV, serves five counties, including Halifax, across southern Virginia. The hospital has been providing quality care since 1953, and offers a wide variety of services, such as emergency care, surgery, imaging/radiology, cardiovascular services, an OB/GYN and pediatrics continuum of care, a comprehensive Sentara OrthoJoint Center specializing in total joint replacement and comprehensive behavioral health services. With highly skilled medical professionals in more than 20 specialties, the hospital also provides treatment in the areas of maternity, sleep services, orthopedics, digestive health, medical stabilization, and occupational medicine.
award-winning care
The excellent care provided to southern Virginia is continually recognized at a local and national level. Sentara Halifax Home Health and Sentara Halifax Hospice have been recognized by Strategic Healthcare Programs as a “Superior Performer” for achieving an overall patient satisfaction score that ranked in the top 20% of all eligible clients for the 2018 calendar year.
meeting the need
In June 2019, Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital introduced medical stabilization services to help
people overcome withdrawal symptoms from drug and alcohol addictions through New Vision medical stabilization service.
“Medical stabilization for addiction is a new service for us, but we are optimistic about the positive impact that this offering will have on our community and the surrounding area,” said Dr. Terrance Truitt, hospitalist at Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital.
This service is offered to adults with a medically supervised hospital stay for inpatient stabilization, which usually lasts three days. The inpatient stay will include prescreening, assessment, admission, medical stabilization and discharge planning. Upon admission, an assessment will be completed with an evaluation of the patient’s medical history, a physical, a laboratory workup and nursing assessment.
Discharge planning will occur prior to leaving the hospital; the patient will be referred to appropriate community-based treatment programs to help prevent relapse and continue their treatment.
Meet the hospital’s chief nurse executive
Also in 2019, Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital welcomed a new chief nurse executive. Dr. Brian Zwoyer, who possesses a wealth of health care experience, joined Sentara in September.
Dr. Zwoyer has spent the last five years as the director of inpatient surgical services, adult critical care, and the emergency department at University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, Virginia. He previously worked for six years as a nurse manager in digestive health, general surgery and transplant urology at UVA in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. Zwoyer also spent seven years serving in the United States Army. In 2012, he received the Distinguished Nurse Manager Award from the University of Virginia Health System, and he is an AONE Nurse Manager Fellow.
“I’ve been a nurse for 22 years, and of those, I have spent 16 in nursing leadership,” Dr. Zwoyer said. “This
experience, coupled with my education, has prepared
me for the challenges this new opportunity will offer.
I am looking forward to getting to know the staff at Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital and using my skill
set to enhance the already excellent care being provided by these stellar nurses.”
Better care for diabetics
Sentara is always striving for innovative ways to improve the health of local communities. In May 2019, Janet Durham, a family nurse practitioner and diabetes educator at Sentara Volens Family Medicine, received Duke University School of Nursing’s Endocrinology Specialty Certification to better serve patients with diabetes and endocrine issues.
“As a nurse practitioner and a diabetes educator, this certification was a natural next step for me,” Durham said. “I am passionate about helping those with diabetes and other endocrine-based conditions be able to better care for themselves. Improving stability in disease management and improving quality of life is at the heart of everything I do. This certification has equipped me with the necessary tools to take that mission and passion one step further.”
Fulfilling the mission
Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital continues to grow and adapt to the changing needs of the community.
“Providing the highest-quality patient care possible is at the forefront of what we do every day,” said Jason Studley, president of Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital. “From improving outcomes and customer service to continually streamlining our processes, achieving excellence at every interaction is my goal for Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital going forward.”
Whatever their ailment, patients know they can turn to Sentara Healthcare for high-quality medical services from head to toe, right in their community.