PATRICK COUNTY, VA – Officials from Foresight Health, the new owner of the hospital in Patrick County, hosted a town hall meeting on Monday night to inform and receive feedback from community members.
The town hall was open to the public and was held at Patrick County High School.
Officials said the new hospital model will have a big emphasis on psychiatric services.
“We are going to propose to the state that we be allowed to operate 10 beds in this hospital specifically for adults who have mental illness, but also concurrent substance use. Many people who are mentally ill can’t find treatment or if they have found treatment and they are prescribed the appropriate medication, they don’t like taking it and so they often turn to the streets and use drugs that are more easily accessible,” said Foresight Health organizational psychologist Sharon Sidell.
Foresight Health even has plans to include a cancer treatment center.
“This is just the first step. Our long term plan is probably to add cancer treatment center. Is probably to add other modalities of other services. You’ll have other people from other communities from other states nearby that could come to Stuart,” Foresight Health CEO Dr. Sameer Suhail stated.
After the presentation of the new goals, local residents were given the opportunity to ask questions.
Those questions and concerns centered around mental health services, insurance, staffing and education on treatment.
“If they have no money at all, they are treated. If they’re on Medicaid, we will accept all insurances and we will certainly apply for Medicare, Medicaid, any of the other commercial groups, but we do not make delineations about who we treat based on insurance coverage,” Sidell explained.
The hospital is currently in the interview process to hire up to 300 people.
To apply, click here.
The plan is to open by the end of January 2023.