Gala Celebration of New VCU Critical Care Hospital to Honor Sen. Benjamin J. Lambert III

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
Division of University Relations

State Sen. Benjamin J. Lambert, III, will be the special honoree at a fundraising gala to celebrate the opening of the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center’s new Critical Care Hospital, Virginia’s only hospital devoted solely to critical care.

The gala, “An Evening of Celebration & Discovery,” sponsored by the MCV Hospitals Auxiliary of the VCU Medical Center, will be held at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 11, at the new Critical Care Hospital, 1213 E. Clay Street, Richmond.

Media representatives interested in covering the gala should contact Pam Lepley for parking arrangements.

Lambert is being honored for his contributions to the university as a VCU Health System board member and the chief patron of its founding legislation that created the VCU Health System Authority, as well as for being a champion of healthcare for underserved persons.

The 15-level, 367,000 square-foot hospital increases critical care capacity at the medical center with intensive care units for surgical trauma, neonatal, burn center, cardiac, neuroscience, medical respiratory and oncology patients. It also features new operating rooms and expanded emergency care.

The $184 million Critical Care Hospital is the largest capital construction project in the history of the VCU Medical Center. It houses 232 adult patient beds, increasing the medical center’s ratio of private to semi-private beds from 37 percent to 70 percent.