SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 314 Offered January 10, 2007 Prefiled November 6, 2006 Commending Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. ---------- Patron-- Miller ----------

WHEREAS, the Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, a superior, full-service, 259-bed community hospital, celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2006; and

WHEREAS, the Hospital of Saint Vincent DePaul was founded by the Daughters of Charity in response to the great yellow fever epidemic of 1855 in Hampton Roads; and

WHEREAS, the Hospital of Saint Vincent DePaul was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly on March 3, 1856, and was the first public hospital in the City of Norfolk; and

WHEREAS, the hospital purchased land on Kingsley Lane in order to build a new facility and expand its services, and the new DePaul Hospital admitted its first patients in May 1944; and

WHEREAS, the Sisters of Bon Secours responded to the Daughters of Charity’s request to assume sponsorship in 1996, at which time the hospital became part of the outstanding Bon Secours Health System and was renamed Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center; and

WHEREAS, DePaul Medical Center has ranked at or near the top of the list of Virginia hospitals in its provision of charitable care as a percentage of gross patient revenue; and

WHEREAS, DePaul Medical Center has provided the highest quality health care services and is committed to the needs of all patients throughout Hampton Roads, regardless of their ability to pay; and

WHEREAS, in fiscal year 2004, DePaul Medical Center provided more than $25 million in uncompensated care, including more than $12 million in direct charity care; and

WHEREAS, DePaul Medical Center operates the Cancer Center, the Center for Birth, the Wound Care and Hyperbaric Oxygen Center, and the Hearing and Balance Center and provides an exemplary cardiology program and numerous other clinical services; and

WHEREAS, dedicated to providing excellence in education for future health care professionals, DePaul Medical Center participates in the teaching program operated by the Eastern Virginia Medical School; and

WHEREAS, DePaul Medical Center employs more than 950 dedicated Virginians, is staffed by the region’s leading physicians, and benefits greatly from an affiliation with the Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center on the occasion of its 150th anniversary; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Sister Rita Thomas on behalf of the Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center as an expression of the General Assembly's gratitude for the medical center's commitment to the citizens of Hampton Roads.