November 2024 Partner and Volunteer Highlight: Inova

Inova is a valued Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) partner that serves our community by providing health care services, investing in workforce development through its educational initiatives and offering programs that include those that help youth explore healthy food options.

Inova Opens New Health Care Facility with Emergency Room

In November 2024, Inova took another step toward bringing health care closer to home with the opening of Inova Health Center - Oakville, (Inova-Oakville) a new, fully equipped outpatient facility near the Potomac Yard metro station. “We really do believe in providing world class health care for every community that we have a privilege to serve,” Inova Director, Eastern Region, Government & Community Relations Melissa Poretz Riddy said.

The new facility operates a full-service emergency room that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week all year long and is staffed by board-certified emergency medicine physicians and specialized nurses. Inova-Oakville also provides primary care services you can access through online booking to make an appointment, as well as specialty services, diagnostic labs and imaging and outpatient surgery.

“What makes Inova special is the relationship established between the provider and patient that is at the core of everything we do,” Riddy stated.

Inova is the largest employer outside the federal government in northern Virginia, with 24,000 employees. The new Inova-Oakville center is part of the health system’s comprehensive Eastern Region Development Plan to meet the growing health care needs of those who live in Inova's Eastern Region service area.

"Inova is an incredible resource for essential health care services for so many of our students and families here in Alexandria City. And they have been a stalwart partner to ACPS, working to make a difference not only in the health and well-being of our students and their families, but also in their educational and career pathways,” ACPS Executive Director of Community Partnerships and Engagement Taneika Taylor Tukan said. “It is exciting to see access for families increase with Inova’s footprint expanding!”

Dream Big Helps Youth Explore Health Care Career Paths

Anticipating workforce needs, Inova engages students in middle and high school to showcase career opportunities in health care through various programs like Dream Big.

“That’s the influential time,” Inova Director of Workforce Development Stacey Dessecker noted. She said by reaching out to students at an early age it helps them decide what journey they want to follow. “Then, their guidance counselor can help them to take the right classes to prepare them to go to school for that,” Dessecker added.

Through Dream Big, Inova partners with local Title I schools and youth organizations to offer in-person learning experiences for students to explore health care career paths and promote a more inclusive workforce, representative of the diverse communities Inova serves.

Inova has also had its health care workforce speak at Alexandria City High School’s Governor’s Health Sciences Academy to inform students about the many opportunities for employment in the healthcare profession, some of which only require a two-year certificate program. “Our goal is to connect those academies and work very closely with those academies to make sure that they have what they need to successfully graduate these students at 100% pass rates,” Dessecker said. 

“Alexandria City Public Schools is appreciative of all the resources Inova has provided our health and medical sciences pathway students,” Career and Technical Education (CTE) Work-Based Learning Specialist Sarah Black stated. “Inova has been an important Career and Technical Education partner, working to educate students about high demand health care jobs in our region.”

Director of CTE and Workforce Development Dr. Tricia Jacobs added, “All of our students that participated in the Dream Big event enjoyed the demonstrations and learning about the workforce development needs of the Inova health care system.”

In February 2025, Inova is hosting the “Intro to Industry Career Fair” which will provide students with the opportunity to find out more about career opportunities in health care, including radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, nurses, mental health specialists and more.

Inova Healthy Plate Club Teaches Students About Nutritious Eating

The Inova Healthy Plate Club (IHPC) helps students make healthy food choices and learn how to cook tasty and nutritious meals. Initially started in 2016 to address national concerns over childhood obesity, the program explains the how-to’s of healthy eating.

This out-of-school time program reaches out to K-8 students at Title I schools or community sites and strives to achieve a change in behavior when it comes to food choices. Students explore the taste, smell and texture of foods and how to prepare them as part of a healthy meal.

“The magic of the program is helping students learn that vegetables can actually taste good as they tend to have a bad reputation among kids and even adults,” Inova Manager, Program Outreach and Education Kate Garsson said.

IHPC’s after school program has reached nearly 700 ACPS students over eight years for its five to eight-week courses. The program got its start at ACPS at Francis C. Hammond Middle School, and it has also served William Ramsay Elementary School and John Adams Elementary School. Through LINK Club, it has served ACPS students at:

• Ruby Tucker Family Center
• Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School
• Community Lodgings
• Brent Place Apartments
• Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 IB School

“We bring this type of education and hands-on cooking experience to students who normally might not get these opportunities and we hear consistently from parents in our virtual classes that it has changed their child,” Garsson shared. “Their child is eating more vegetables. Their child is less picky.”

IHPC also offers online classes, so students eligible for the program can cook with Inova from their kitchen. In addition, the program brings nutrition lessons to K-4 classrooms, aligned with Virginia’s Standards of Learning topics, to include understanding the five food groups and reading nutrition facts labels.