This week, Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital is celebrating its 70th anniversary of providing quality, compassionate health care!
As a pillar of the Newport News community, Mary Immaculate Hospital (MIH) has proudly evolved over the years to meet the growing needs of the community. And we are just getting started!
In the next few years, you can expect to see a changing campus environment at MIH. In fact, some exciting updates for our birthplace and our emergency department are on the horizon as our ministry invests significant capital dollars into this hospital.
“We are excited to enhance the Mary Immaculate Hospital campus to better meet the needs of our community but to also provide an exceptional environment for our team members and providers to practice,” Darlene Stephenson, president of Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital, shares. “Through our planning and design process, we are mindful of the desires of the original founding Bernardine Franciscan Sisters and keep their vision as part of our future.”
There will be more to come on this at a later time. So, for now, let’s focus on and celebrate MIH’s rich history.
Mary Immaculate Hospital back then
Since 1952, Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital has been providing services to the residents of Newport News and Virginia’s Lower Peninsula. MIH originally purchased Elizabeth Buxton Hospital (pictured above, left).
As the Peninsula’s only faith-based hospital, MIH’s legacy is one of inclusivity. Not only was MIH the first hospital to integrate patients, but we were also the first to desegregate the baby nurseries. Additionally, MIH was the first hospital to hire a culturally inclusive medical staff. In fact, the first African American staff member was a surgeon by the name of Dr. Waldo Scott. His son, Bobby Scott, serves in the 3rd District of the US Congress today.
Since those early days, our mission has evolved and grown, but we have kept our focus on providing the highest quality care through innovative procedures delivered by highly skilled and caring health care professionals.
Mary Immaculate Hospital right now
Today, Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital is a 123-bed hospital with 10 operating rooms providing an array of inpatient and outpatient services including emergency medicine, bariatrics, orthopedics, cardiology, maternity care, imaging services, surgical procedures, urology and oncology.
We recently expanded our footprint to include a formal partnership with our local military branches, providing an environment for military providers to practice providing enhanced access to our active and retired military families and supporting the ongoing goal to ensure our military providers are, at all times, combat ready.
Ensuring the safety of our patients is our number one priority at MIH. We are proud to share that we not only earned the nation’s top distinction for patient safety with an A grade from the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade nine times in a row, we’ve also been recognized as an A+ facility as well. MIH has also been identified as a Top General Hospital by the Leapfrog Group, which is a national, independent watchdog that sets the highest standards for patient safety in the United States. Additionally, MIH holds a 5-star Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In honor of the 70th anniversary, our team members at Mary Immaculate Hospital are gathering for celebrations and sharing their stories.
Here are a few:
- Sue Nehme started working at MIH in 1983, a little over a year after the hospital had opened in its current location. Over the past 38 years, she’s worked in many departments including the ICCU, the PACU and the PAT department, which she was instrumental in building from the ground up. She shares that she came as a 22-year-old new graduate and is now 61 years old. She has seen much growth and many changes as the hospital continues to serve the surrounding community. She has also always been proud to be a member of Bon Secours and loves her job.
- Penny Collins will celebrate 37 years with MIH on June 10. She started at the hospital just two weeks after completing nursing school. She worked in labor and delivery for more than 24 years before transferring to day surgery. She had all three of her daughters at MIH.
- MIH 1993 employee of the year Katrina Johnson has worked in the mother infant unit for 33 years. She even completed her clinicals at MIH while she attended nearby Hampton University. Keeping it in the family, she delivered both of her daughters there as well.
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