Folks who need specialized or stepped-up medical care in much of the Suffolk area will directly benefit from improvements within the Sentara Healthcare system that have resulted in Sentara Norfolk General Heart Hospital to be ranked one of the best in the nation.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked the hospital as the best in the Hampton Roads area and tied with the VCU Medical Center as the second-best hospital in the commonwealth. Additionally, the heart hospital is No. 24 in the nation, improving from No. 31 last year.

“We are always proud to be recognized on the national level,” said Kurt Hofelich, corporate vice president and president of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and Sentara Heart Hospital. “It is validation for all of our hard work.”

Also, the hospital’s diabetes and endocrinology program, which operates in conjunction with the Eastern Virginia Medical School, was ranked No. 24 in the country.

Hofelich said although there is a competitive edge to the hospital rankings, particularly between Sentara and VCU, the two hospitals often share ideas and practices “to best take care of the patients.”

Now in its 10^th year, the heart hospital operates the only heart transplant program in the Hampton Roads area.

The hospital has also embraced new technologies to help keep it on the cutting edge of heart health. In recent years, the da Vinci surgical system was introduced, which enables surgeons to perform fine incisions and operations.

In addition, this year, the hospital was the first in the region to introduce the world’s smallest pacemaker and the world’s first dissolvable heart stent, according to a Sentara press release.

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital is classified as a tertiary referral hospital. The hospital is also the region’s only Level I trauma center and is one of five in the state. These distinctions are among the highest for a medical center.

If a downtown Suffolk resident were to experience a heart attack, for instance, he or she would typically be taken to Sentara Obici Hospital. The hospital is able to perform a variety of emergency cardiac interventions to assist the patient.

However, if those methods don’t work, the patient would be transported by helicopter to the Norfolk General facility to undergo more intensive care.

Currently, there are only five tertiary centers in the commonwealth — Sentara Norfolk General Hospital being one of them. On average, the hospital receives 300 to 400 hospital transfers per month, according to Hofelich.

Among the transfers are patients from 48 states and 12 countries.

“The acknowledgment of the level of sophistication of Sentara Norfolk General and other tertiary referral centers like it is it can take any cases that come through the door,” said Dale Gauding, Sentara communications advisor.

Since March, construction has been under way to expand the facility. There are plans to add three floors to two of the hospital’s wings, to enlarge and remodel 18 operating rooms and to add a rooftop helipad, among other additions.

“When we’re finished, our facilities will match the quality of our clinical programs,” Hofelich stated in a Sentara press release.