Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508150079
SECTION: DISCOVER ROANOKE VALLEY PAGE: 32 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The metropolitan area's hospitals are Roanoke Memorial and Community in Roanoke, which belong to Carilion, a not-for-profit company with headquarters in Roanoke; and Lewis-Gale Hospital and Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center, that share property with Lewis-Gale Clinic in Salem. Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. of Memphis, Tenn., owns Lewis-Gale hospital and psychiatric center; physicians own the clinic.
In addition to the main site, Lewis-Gale Clinic has 15 other locations, including a large facility at Valley View Mall in northwest Roanoke. Carilion also runs satellite clinics, including one in Buchanan.
And while doctors may concentrate their practices at one hospital system or the other, many physicians practice at all the hospitals in their immediate area.
The only Level 1 trauma center in Western Virginia is at Roanoke Memorial Hospital; there are only five of the centers in the state. Level 1 means a hospital has to have cardiac-pulmonary bypass capability, a neurosurgeon available within a half hour and an anesthesiologist on duty all the time. There also are equipment requirements. This designation, which is given by state regulators, usually is only held by teaching hospitals.
Roanoke Memorial also operates the Lifeguard helicopter emergency transport system, a Cancer Center and a rehabilitation center.
Women and children services for the Carilion network are centered at Community Hospital and include a Children's Cancer Center.
Community Hospital does not have a trauma level designation for its emergency room and neither does Lewis-Gale Hospital.
Lewis-Gale has pediatrics, obstetrics, general medicine and surgery under one roof and boasts of its high-tech focus that allows women to give birth in their hospital rooms. On Jan. 1, Lewis-Gale instituted a flat $2,800 fee for an uncomplicated birth and a two-day hospital stay. Both Lewis-Gale and Community have programs in which nurse professionals visit with new mothers within a week after delivery.
Carilion facilities and Lewis-Gale also have patient referral systems that can answer consumer questions about procedures and physicians. Carilion has Physician Referral and Health Information Service, 981-7641, and Lewis-Gale has Medline, 776-4863.
Other medical services in the Roanoke Valley include the Mount Regis Center in Salem, which specializes in alcohol treatment; the Bradley Free Clinic in Roanoke, which serves the working poor; Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge, which has full clinic services for women and has announced it will begin abortion services this fall; the Roanoke Medical Center for Women, which provides family planning services, including abortion. In addition, the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Roanoke Valley Inc. offers family planning services and counsels women on alternatives to abortion, but is not a medical clinic.
by CNB