AdventHealth Hendersonville’s location in and engagement with the Western North Carolina community allows the hospital to provide whole-person care to a growing number of people. According to Victoria Dunkle, Director of Communications and Public Relations, the hospital is seeing a steady growth in population across the state’s western counties. This growth includes people retiring in the region and relocating to WNC for work.

According to Dunkle, the location itself provides a unique opportunity for filling available positions within the hospital. “Our region’s unique beauty and quality of life offerings also provide an exceptional tool for recruiting leading health care providers who want to experience the balance of work and life with an organization that values their well-being as much as the well-being of its patients,” she said.

AdventHealth Hendersonville currently employs more than 1,100 people in WNC. “We provide our whole-person care to patients in our hospital in Hendersonville, along with nearly 40 AdventHealth Medical Group locations across the region,” Dunkle said. “In recent years, AdventHealth Hendersonville has grown options with the opening of primary care and multi-specialty offices in Buncombe and Transylvania Counties. Our Cancer Services program offers comprehensive care at four centers across Western North Carolina. We have also launched a multi-specialty virtual health option for patients. This was in the works before the COVID-19 pandemic began and we were able to bring it as a care option to our patients within the first weeks of the lockdown. It has grown into a popular option for patients who cannot make it in for in-person appointments for a variety of reasons.”

AdventHealth received approval from the state in November to build a new community hospital in Buncombe County. Dunkle said that AdventHealth Hendersonville received more than 4,000 letters of support from government and community leaders, as well as from residents of Buncombe County and surrounding areas.

AdventHealth Asheville will provide provide surgical specialties similar to those currently offered at AdventHealth Hendersonville including cardiothoracic, general surgery, neurosurgery, OB/GYN, ophthalmology, oral/dental, orthopedics, otolaryngology, plastic surgery, podiatry, urology, and vascular surgery. An emergency department, labor and delivery center, and 67 beds to care for medical, surgical, and ICU patients will also be part of this facility, according to Dunkle.

“Expansion will include adding access to care when and where people want it,” Dunkle said. “One example is adding new specialty care providers to our AdventHealth Medical Group Multispecialty at Candler. We just welcomed board-certified and daVinci trained OB/GYN, Natalie Rochester, MD, FACOG to the Candler location. This brings an additional point of women’s health care to the office that is already home to primary care, rheumatology, ENT and diagnostic services.”

To support the growing staffing needs, AdventHealth has established earn-while-you-learn opportunities for people in our community who are looking to get their start in the healthcare industry. Certified Nursing Aide and Certified Medical Assistant programs in collaboration with Blue Ridge Community College are currently in place.

“Once a person joins the AdventHealth team, their leader will have regular conversations with them to establish and support them as they take control of their growth,” Dunkle said. “Our leadership will equip them with tools to realize their potential and career goals across the organization. This includes debt-free education.”

“AdventHealth is home to leading edge technology that is advancing surgery care to be more efficient and reducing patient recovery times. Our robotic surgery platforms include da Vinci® Xi and Mazor X Robotic Guidance System. We will soon be offering VELYS robotic-assisted knee replacement surgery,” Dunkle said. “The AdventHealth Hendersonville Orthopedic Program is also leading the region in several technological care firsts such as the Misonix™ Ultrasonic Spinal Surgery, nanoLOCK® Spine Implant nanotechnology for spinal surgeries and the ProAxis® Spinal Surgical Table.”