Like its neighbors in Northern Virginia, the Winchester area has grown a good bit in the past decade, and its primary medical care provider, Valley Health, is upping its game in response.
“We do a community health assessment every three years,” says Tonya Smith, the nonprofit health system’s chief operating officer and president of Winchester Medical Center. The most recent assessment showed a need for more mental health and rehabilitative services. In response, Valley Health has undertaken two building projects, both located on the hospital campus.
The first is the $20.9 million Valley Health Behavioral Health Pavilion. The 26,139-square-foot facility will centralize Valley Health’s behavioral care services, now offered at scattered locations, into one place while expanding services, including drug counseling and geriatric programs. Construction began in May 2025 and is expected to be completed in August. It also will house a telemedicine center for the hospital and its associates.
The pavilion, which is expected to open in October, will employ about 45 mental health care providers to start, but that number eventually will grow to about 100, Smith says.
The second project is even more ambitious — a $74.3 million, 104,000-square-foot rehabilitation tower that will be connected to the hospital via a skybridge. Construction began in April 2025 and is expected to be completed in January 2027.
The tower will have 50 beds, more than doubling the number of beds available now. The beds will be located on the tower’s two upper floors, while its ground floor will be dedicated to outpatient services such as physical and speech therapy.
The official name of the new facility is a mouthful: the Valley Health Winchester Medical Center Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Tower. That is because, under a joint operating agreement with Valley Health, all the rehab staff will work for Mary Free Bed, a Michigan-based nonprofit known for its clinical care.
Kristin Brooks, vice president of system operations for Mary Free Bed, says the rehab tower will be equipped to handle patients who have a higher level of need, such as those suffering from brain injuries, strokes or amputations, and that every room will have a lift and the capacity to provide oxygen and dialysis. Over time, Brooks says, a rehabilitative staff that now numbers about 140 should grow to 250. Smith says the system expects to announce additional expansions later this year.
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