Inova Mount Vernon Hospital Family Celebrates 50th

MOUNT VERNON, VA – The 50^th Anniversary Celebration at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital felt more like a family reunion than an institutional event recognizing extraordinary growth and service over five decades.

“Family” was a word repeated by multiple speakers on Friday, Oct. 9, as elected officials, community leaders, longtime partners, physicians, staff, and volunteers gathered to celebrate Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. Their smiles and personal stories reflected the hospital’s impact on their lives and the community.

Since opening as a 76-bed community hospital, Inova Mount Vernon has grown to 237 beds and now performs more than 5,000 surgeries annually. Its recent recognitions include a listing among the “Best Hospitals 2026-2027 for Orthopedics,” a No. 1 ranking in the D.C. metro area for orthopedics, and recognition in Forbes’ America’s Best-in-State Employers for 2025.

“My personal journey started as a very small child coming into this hospital because my grandfather who lived up the hill in Groveton was pretty much a frequent flyer here,” said Jeffrey C. McKay, chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors as he recalled accompanying family for visits at the Inova Mount Vernon Hospital and remarking that many in the community can share similar accounts.

“He was pretty much in charge of the cardiac unit with the number of times he came in here,” McKay joked about his grandfather, drawing chuckles from the audience. He recalled Dr. Cleveland Francis warning his grandfather that arriving even five to 10 minutes later could have cost him his life.

McKay said those childhood visits helped him appreciate both the firefighters and paramedics who brought patients to the hospital and the medical teams who cared for them. The hospital’s presence, he said, has saved and extended countless lives.

“We can’t lose sight of that when we talk about facilities and systems, we’re really talking about the faces of the people,” he said.

McKay praised by name many of the dedicated leaders of the Mount Vernon community of the past and said that what he “learned from them was not just about leadership and passion, was not just about health care, was not just about Inova as great as it is, it was about the people that they represented…and that is you can’t have a community without a great hospital.”

“As I was walking through the hallways, this place has never looked better!” he added to applause and laughter. “50 looks great! It may not look great on all of us but it looks great on this facility!”

McKay concluded his remarks by reading a Fairfax County Board resolution tracing the hospital’s origins to voters’ approval of a health bond in 1967 and the Board of Supervisors’ subsequent approval of a hospital for the Richmond Highway corridor.

Mount Vernon Hospital opened on October 26, 1976, as a 76-bed community hospital.

The resolution also honored its dedicated physicians, nurses, staff, and volunteers, whose work has earned numerous recognitions for quality and patient care, including Magnet designation for nursing excellence and awards for patient safety, stroke care, and orthopedic care.

The hospital began with 32 staff members and 70 affiliated physicians. Just six patients were admitted on its first day. Today, the hospital has 237 beds and more than 1,500 team members, performs more than 5,000 surgeries annually and cares for more than 8,000 patients each year. It provides a broad range of services, including emergency care, orthopedics, rehabilitation, behavioral health, stroke care, heart and vascular care, surgery and women’s health.

“This hospital is the heart of the community providing world-class health care for all of those 50 years,” said Dr. J. Stephen Jones, President and CEO of Inova, to vigorous applause. “Today we continue that legacy across Inova…Inova is deeply committed to this hospital as long as I am CEO.”

Rep. Don Beyer (VA–8) also spoke about Inova’s role in his family’s life, from the births of his children and grandchildren to “the Emergency Room visits!”

He paid tribute to his “favorite mother-in-law,” who worked for 30 years as a nurse on Mount Vernon Hospital’s behavioral health floor, and acknowledged her former colleagues.

Beyer also shared that his oldest child developed schizophrenia during his freshman year of college, bringing the family to the hospital many times. He credited the staff with “taking wonderful care of him.”

Listening appreciatively, two longtime employees agreed that a sense of family defines the hospital, affectionately known as “The Vern.”

“Keda” Howell, an Alexandria resident and operating room coordinator, has worked there for 25 years. Terence Crosby, a certified physician assistant who lives in Fort Washington, Md., has been there for 30 years.

“It’s been a wonderful experience how Inova and Mount Vernon have grown,” Crosby said. “I came here straight out of Howard University and I got lucky because I’ve gotten to work with some of the best surgeons around.”

Recently retired Dr. Howard Lando, whose Inova Mount Vernon career as an endocrinologist spanned his entire working life, recalled that he began “moonlighting” there in the Emergency Room when the hospital first opened and he was still a young doctor working as a fellow at George Washington University. He rose to the rank of medical care president and said he truly feels that “family” describes the facility.

The anniversary event also provided the opportunity to hear about many people who have helped shape healthcare in the community over the past five decades.

Dr. Cleveland Francis, the first Black cardiologist in the Mount Vernon area, recorded a video welcome from California to his Inova Mount Vernon family that began the 50^th Anniversary Celebration.

He offered a firsthand perspective on the evolution of medicine, diversity and healthcare access in the community.

Francis was one of just two Black students in his medical school class and went on to establish Mount Vernon Cardiology Associates in 1978, which became one of the region’s largest cardiology practices.

From Francis’s greeting to the memories shared by longtime employees and grateful families, the celebration returned to the same theme: the people behind the care. Fifty years after welcoming its first six patients, Inova Mount Vernon Hospital marked its anniversary with stories of lives saved, careers built and relationships sustained—the ties that make “The Vern” feel like family.