Chesapeake Regional Healthcare celebrates new milestone with Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit ribbon-cutting

CHESAPEAKE, Va. – Today, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare unveiled a new Behavioral Health Inpatient Unit, located on the sixth floor of Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.

The new Behavioral Health Inpatient Unit is an 11,200 square foot therapeutic space designed to promote patient recovery. It has 20 private rooms for adult patients, two activity rooms, a quiet room, a group therapy room and a sensory room. 

Creating a Behavioral Health program to serve the citizens of Chesapeake allows patients to receive treatment closer to home, rather than elsewhere in the state. This keeps support systems intact, leading to a more effective continuum of care. The program is vital to the community, and opening the unit is part of Chesapeake Regional’s comprehensive strategy to bring much-needed resources to the south side of Hampton Roads.

Judge Robert G. MacDonald said, “I stand here before you today as someone who has witnessed first-hand the desperate need for what we celebrate today…Today we cut the ribbon, not just on a facility, but on a lifeline.”

Psychiatrist and Chesapeake City Council Member Patricia King agreed, saying, “Today is about the unveiling of a new attitude about mental health - and the unveiling of a new and resounding commitment to the mental health of this community, our neighbors, friends, and colleagues who suffer from mental illness.” 

Support from the local, regional, and federal governments has been a critical part of making the new facility come to life. 

“This is money well spent because it is saving lives,” Commissioner Nelson Smith of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services said. “When people come here, they will be too broken to hold their hope. They are going to come through these doors and give their hope to your people. And your people are going to hold that hope until they can get well enough, so you can give it back to them when they can go back to their community. This is a place of hope and healing.”

Delegate Cliff Hayes Jr. expressed his appreciation of Chesapeake Regional’s contributions to the community by saying, “Chesapeake Regional Healthcare hears concerns of the community and responds. I am very appreciative…of the difference this hospital makes.”

The new inpatient Behavioral Health Unit will open for patients in Spring 2026. It is part of a comprehensive strategy to support behavioral health patients in Hampton Roads. Chesapeake Regional opened an Emergency Department Behavioral Health Unit in mid-2025 as part of its growing Behavioral Health program. 

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