Four Stages of Growth and Advancement

Sentara’s story began in 1888 when the small facility that would become Sentara Norfolk General Hospital opened. Now a top integrated healthcare network, Sentara has come a long way from its humble beginnings. Explore this evolution through the history timeline.

Eras

Sentara’s history can be divided into four eras, each with its own theme. From its early years caring for growing Virginia communities to modern efforts to address health inequities and a global pandemic, Sentara continues to grow and build on its reputation for safety, quality, and service.

1880-1959: Providing Care to New Communities

Norfolk Retreat for the Sick

1888

Dixie Hospital 1890 Alice Bacon on Horseback

1891

1895 NPL Retreat For the Sick First Graduating Class

1892

1899 Norfolk Protestant Hospital Capital Stock

1898

1903

Martha Jefferson Sanatorium

1903

Norfolk Protestant Hospital 1903

1906

RMH Postcard 1923

1912

1927 Dixie Nursing Students with Dr. Howe

1913

Bell Hospital

1925

Nursery

1926

Patient Care

1929

Nationa Hospital Day Celebration 1933

1931

Norfolk General Hospital

1936

1946

Ambulance

1948

Amedeo Obici

1951

Norfolk General Hospital

1958

1959

1960-1999: Broadening Scope and Reach

The General Hospital of Virginia Beach

1961

Williamsburg Community Hospital

1961

Open Heart Surgery

1967

Emergency Department

1972

Toy Savage Glenn Mitchell

1972

Hampton General Hospital

1973

Bayside Hospital

1975

Leigh Opens First Amb Surg Center

1975

Leigh Memorial Hospital Moves

1977

Potomac Hospital

1977

1976 Norfolk General Regions First Radiation Oncology Center

1979

Elixabeth Carr Life Magazine

1981

1932 Sentara Senior Care

1981

Nightingale

1982

Alliance Health System

1983

Optima 1984 Jay Kossman and Glenn Mitchell

1984

Norfolk General Trauma Center

1985

Sentara Adopts New Name

1987

1988 Sentara Overview Brochure

1987

HeartTrans CLR

1989

David Bern Continuous Quality Improvement presentation.

1993

Careplex Grnd

1995

1994 Sentara Medical Group is Formed

1995

Sentara Healthcare Logo

1998

Nightingdale

1998

2000-2019: Striving for Excellence

Operating Room Nurses

2000

Using eICU®

2000

Sentara Named Top Integrated Healthcare Network

2001

Sentara CarePlex Hospital

2002

Sentara Expands to Williamsburg

2002

Staff gather at the ceremony

2002

2004 Issue of Network

2004

Patient safety promise

2004

Cardiac surgeons at work

2006

Sentara Princess Anne

2006

Magnet hospitals

2006

AMBER Alert Citizen Award

2007

2007

Pharmacists

2008

HomeCare

2008

Mobile Sentara eCare®

2008

Tobacco Free

2009

Sentara College of Health Sciences

2009

Sentara Potomac Hospital

2009

Colonial Half Marathon

2009

Cancer Patient and Caregiver

2009

52,000-square-foot medical building

2010

Sentara Orthopaedic Hospital at Sentara CarePlec

2010

Bernd speaking to RMH employees

2010

Cyber Knife

2010

The new RMH Healthcare hospital

2010

Patient rooms at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital

2011

Sentara Princess Anne Hospital

2011

Neurosciences

2011

First paired kidney exchange

2011

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

2011

Optima screening

2011

Echo Tech at SVBGH

2012

Sentara’s announcement

2012

Nurse at White Board

2012

Sentara’s disaster readiness protocols

2012

A patient works on physical therapy

2012

Sentara Nursing Center

2012

Sentara to Home service

2012

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy

2012

Sentara awarded $875,000 in grants

2012

Sentara History Book Cover

2013

Sentara RMH Medical Center

2013

Sentara donated over 3,000 computers

2013

Neuroscience Center

2013

Annual Martha’s Market

2013

Sentara Princess Anne Hospital

2013

Sentara commitment to innovation.

2013

eCare Nurse Chrissy Scanning Patient Armband

2013

Joan Brock and Meril Amdursky at the Sentara Hospice House garden

2013

Halifax Regional Health System

2013

Sentara’s Medical Transport units

2013

Sentara’s hopes for bringing NuScriptRX to other assisted living centers

2013

Sentara’s autonomic testing lab

2014

Lab Tech looking at sample under magnifier

2014

SAMC

2014

Veterans Day

2014

Nurses from Sentara Martha Jefferson Hostpital

2015

Halifax Regional Hospital

2015

The CardioMEMS wireless heart monitor

2015

A grade for safety from the Leapfrog

2015

Sentara Leigh Hospital

2016

New Sports Medicine Center

2016

Howard Kern

2016

Normal lungs on computed tomography scan

2016

Telemedicine

2016

Ornish Reversal program

2016

Increase access to health insurance for pregnant women

2016

SHRH Ortho Joint

2016

Morgan Phillips

2016

Sentara Ribbon Cutting

2016

Sentara Heart Hospital

2016

Proprium Pharmacy

2016

Sentara CarePlex Hospital

2017

Sentara MJH Foundation

2017

Optima's managed care program

2017

Sentara Family Medicine staff at Edinburgh

2017

Sentara Heart Hospital’s nurses recognized

2017

Patti Scott

2017

Maternity Center

2017

Vascular Team

2017

Alverta Robinson

2017

IBM Billboard

2018

Chandra Hubbard-Wright

2018

Patient and Physician

2018

Blood Bank

2018

Community Care Clinic

2018

Dr Olusesi

2018

2018

Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital

2018

Velocity Care

2018

The Virginia Department of Veterans Services

2018

North Carolina Hurricane Florence Team

2018

Health Sciences

2018

Sentara Mobile Application Login

2019

Nightingale air ambulance

2019

Linear Accelerator

2019

Rockingham County and Harrisonburg Rescue Squads

2019

$50 million contribution

2019

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital

2019

Blockchain-Empowered Cybersecurity Solution

2019

Sentara Healthcare Logo

2019

Home Health Team

2019

SBP

2019

Opening ceremony of the VB Strong Center

2019

BelleHarbor

2019

2020s and Beyond: Looking Ahead

ER nurse takes a patient’s temperature

2020

Sentara employees package food

2020

Howard Kern and Joan Brock

2020

A trauma nurse at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital

2020

LGBTQ

2020

Sentara Princess-Anne Maternity

2020

SNGH

2020

COVID screening

2020

Distributing the COVID-19 vaccine

2020

Sentara Healthcare Logo

2020

Sentara CEO Howard Kern

2021

COVID-19 vaccines

2021

Heart in a Box Landing

2021

2021

Seek Care

2021

Sentara Halifax Family Medicine

2021

CVRehb

2021

Racial Inequities

2021

2021

$150,000 Donation

2021

Sentara Healthcare Logo

2021

2021

Face Shields Superheroes

2022

Ukraine

2022

Holistic Treatments

2022

SNGH

2022

Dennis Matheis

2022

The Sentara Mobile Care bus

2022

Public Housing in Newport News

2022

Nightingale

2022

Sentara Albemarle Medical Center Groundbreaking

2022

SWRMC Geriatric-Accred Emergency Department

2022

VB Strong Center

2022

The Sentara Martha Jefferson Outpatient Care Center

2022

OptaFi

2022

SNGH

2022

Sentara College of Health Sciences

2022

Newborn

2022

LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality

2022

AvMed

2022