Although Sentara Health as a corporation was founded in 1972, its origins date back to 1888. That year, the Norfolk Women's Christian Association founded the 25-bed hospital known as the Retreat for the Sick in Norfolk, Virginia. Ten years after its foundation, the hospital was renamed to the Norfolk Protestant Hospital. In 1936, its name was changed again to the
Norfolk General Hospital. Another Norfolk hospital called the Sarah Leigh Hospital was founded with 35 beds in 1903 by Dr. Southgate Leigh. At the time, the Leigh Hospital was a state-of-the-art facility built with rounded corners, a fire suppression system, and basic
air handling. Norfolk General and Sarah Leigh Hospital formed the foundation of Sentara Health in 1972. Indeed, in that year, One of the first projects undertaken by the merged entity was the construction of a new Leigh Memorial Hospital. In 1981,
Elizabeth Carr, the nation's first baby born using the
in vitro fertilization procedure, was delivered at Norfolk General Hospital. On February 25, 1982, the organization deployed its Nightingale
air ambulance for the first time. It was the first hospital-based air ambulance in the state of Virginia. In 1983, the organization's name was changed from Medical Center Hospitals to Alliance Health System. In 1984, it began offering the Optima Health Plan
HMO. In 1987, the corporation adopted the name "Sentara Health System" (later "Sentara Health"). The names of its properties were also rebranded, including the two main hospitals, and multiple medical care facilities. In 1988, Hampton General Hospital joined the system. The following year, doctors at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital performed the region's first successful
heart transplant. In 1991, Sentara purchased the
Humana Bayside Hospital in
Virginia Beach, renaming it Sentara Bayside Hospital. In 1996, Sentara and the
Williamsburg Community Hospital entered into a formal partnership which saw Sentara taking a 49% equity stake in the hospital. Sentara eventually took over full ownership of the hospital in 2002, and it later adopted the name, Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center. In 1998, Sentara merged with Tidewater Health Care, a Virginia Beach–based healthcare system that operated Virginia Beach General Hospital. The organization became known as Sentara Health at that time. Also that year, the Sentara Foundation was created as the charitable arm of the organization, providing grants to other local healthcare entities. In 2000, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and other Sentara hospitals became the first in the nation to employ "eICU" services in which doctors remotely monitor patients in the
ICU. In 2002, the five-story Sentara CarePlex Hospital was completed and replaced the Sentara Hampton General Hospital in
Hampton. In 2005, Sentara announced a deal to merge with Obici Health System, which operated Louise Obici Memorial Hospital in
Suffolk. That hospital was renamed "Sentara Obici Hospital." The deal was finalized in early 2006. That year, the 300,000 square-foot Sentara Heart Hospital was completed in Norfolk. Sentara continued adding hospitals to its network in the intervening years, including Potomac Hospital in
Woodbridge (2009), Rockingham Memorial Hospital in
Harrisonburg (2010), Martha Jefferson Memorial Hospital in
Charlottesville (2011), Halifax Regional Hospital in
South Boston (2013), and Sentara Albemarle Medical Center in
Elizabeth City, North Carolina (2014). In March 2016, David Bernd stepped down as the system's CEO and was replaced by then president and
COO,
Howard P. Kern. Bernd had served as CEO since 1995 and had been at the company since 1972. Kern has been with Sentara since 1980. In 2019, Sentara acquired Virginia Premier, a health plan founded by the
VCU Health System. In August 2020, Sentara Health and
Greensboro, North Carolina–based
Cone Health announced their intent to merge. At the conclusion of the due diligence period in June 2021, both health systems announced that they would not move forward with the merger. In 2023, Sentara merged Virginia Premier into Optima Health. ==Operation==