New Kent father expands coffee shops in Sentara hospitals after son’s heart transplant
Woodrow “Woody” Jones pours his heart and soul into everything he does including his latest venture, New Orleans Creole Coffee.
The single father of three has gone through some dark times, but he continues to rely on his strong faith to pull him through.
“I put God first and everything else will work out,” he said.
While Jones admits he isn’t a coffee drinker, he saw a need within the local hospital system and decided to create a small business focused on a NOLA tradition — plant-based chicory coffee. A transplant from New Orleans, Jones moved to New Kent in 2005 just weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit. He said he wanted to bring a piece of his hometown to the area.
Jones has worked at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center for 16 years in different roles including emergency room administrative associate, phlebotomist and operating room technician.
But, it was his role as father praying beside his sick teenage son’s bedside as he awaited a lifesaving heart transplant in January 2018 that led him to start the business endeavor.
Jones recalled it was a doctor at Sentara Williamsburg who first diagnosed his son, Juan Mickel-Jones, with viral cardiomyopathy. The son was a sophomore football player and wrestler with a 4.0 GPA at New Kent High School when he came down with the rare heart condition.
“They took care of my son, so I got to carry Sentara on my back and make sure everything works out for them,” Jones said. “And I just want my son to grow old and enjoy life on this earth.”
Now 19, Mickel-Jones is a sophomore studying biomedical engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University. A daily cocktail of 15 pills are now second nature for this young man who was never sick before he was struck by the life-threatening condition.
Witnessing his father’s devotion not only to him, but also as an entrepreneur has been inspirational, Mickel-Jones said. The father and son share their story in a documentary, juanstrong.com.
It was at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville where Mickel-Jones received his new heart, that Jones saw the popularity of a coffee bar and thought his hospital system — its doctors, nurses, staff and families — needed the same.
“They needed something right there, not just across the street,” Jones said. “I presented the idea and it took off from there.”
He also saw the opportunity to be a business owner and earn more money to help with his son’s mounting medical bills.
“I’m the type of person that doesn’t like to ask anybody for anything; I’m going to go out there and make it on my own,” Jones said.
In December 2019, he opened New Orleans Creole Coffee’s first location, a kiosk, at Sentara Williamsburg.
Less than two years later on Aug. 2, he opened a second location within Sentara CarePlex in Hampton, the same hospital where his son’s mother, Nicole Mickel, lost her battle with lupus when he was just 4 years old.
The shop features 20 daily rotating varieties of coffee, tea, espressos, macchiatos, and lattes including butter pecan, Creole chicory and crème brule. Jones boasts that his own creation, an iced blended banana bourbon, is an unexpected hospital treat.
“Coffee is a necessity in a hospital, especially for doctors and nurses in these days and times,” he said.
He recently bought a mobile coffee truck and said plans are under way for more shops to open in other local hospitals, but he’s not willing to stop there. Jones would like to see New Orleans Creole Coffee expand nationwide.
“Life is precious,” Jones said. “I just want to spark the world, be on the other side and say I did God’s work.”
Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@insidebiz.com
