Celebrating the Past, Creating the Future, Improving Health Every Day

Sentara has come a long way since the Retreat for the Sick opened in 1888. From its origins as a modest haven for Norfolk’s poor, Sentara has grown into a multi-faceted health system providing health care across Virginia and North Carolina. Sentara was fortunate to have generations of visionary leadership necessary to conceive of growth on such a broad scale. Too often visionaries wreck on the rocks of reality, but Sentara has been equally fortunate to have prudent leaders willing to do solid strategic planning. There were lots of big decisions to be made, but Sentara seldom ran an unwarranted risk. Steady, perhaps, but ahead of the main current; attuned to the past, but committed to creating the future of health care. Along the way, there have been changing technologies and systems, and new partnerships and mergers, all a means to the same end sought by the nurses of 1888 – saving lives and improving quality of life. Today, on the banks of Hampton Roads, the shoreline of eastern North Carolina, in the bustle of Northern Virginia, and in the scenic Blue Ridge, Sentara Healthcare is there – many people with a single goal: to improve health every day. The book is dedicated to the patients who entrust us with their care and to the Sentara Healthcare staff, physicians, volunteers, and community members-past, present and future. Their commitment and outstanding achievements, over the years, help Sentara achieve its mission. All book proceeds go directly to the Sentara Foundation - Hampton Roads. The book provides detailed history and photographs tracing back 125 years.

Sentara has come a long way since the Retreat for the Sick opened in 1888. From its origins as a modest haven for Norfolk’s poor, Sentara has grown into a multi-faceted health system providing health care across Virginia and North Carolina. Sentara was fortunate to have generations of visionary leadership necessary to conceive of growth on such a broad scale. Too often visionaries wreck on the rocks of reality, but Sentara has been equally fortunate to have prudent leaders willing to do solid strategic planning. There were lots of big decisions to be made, but Sentara seldom ran an unwarranted risk. Steady, perhaps, but ahead of the main current; attuned to the past, but committed to creating the future of health care. Along the way, there have been changing technologies and systems, and new partnerships and mergers, all a means to the same end sought by the nurses of 1888 – saving lives and improving quality of life. Today, on the banks of Hampton Roads, the shoreline of eastern North Carolina, in the bustle of Northern Virginia, and in the scenic Blue Ridge, Sentara Healthcare is there – many people with a single goal: to improve health every day. The book is dedicated to the patients who entrust us with their care and to the Sentara Healthcare staff, physicians, volunteers, and community members-past, present and future. Their commitment and outstanding achievements, over the years, help Sentara achieve its mission. All book proceeds go directly to the Sentara Foundation - Hampton Roads. The book provides detailed history and photographs tracing back 125 years.

This history represents the combined memories of many people at Sentara, some with decades of experience and some of our newest members of the team. We've shared a story of community service, innovation, and leadership, illustrated with historical images and documents which weave together our history. Limitations of time and space, as well as the limitations inherent in any story, made it impossible to include every achievement and advancement over the years, but these contributions have helped make Sentara Healthcare the respected system it is today.