Beebe Healthcare has disclosed plans for a nearly $200 million expansion of its Lewes hospital, citing a growing population of older residents and young families in coastal Sussex County.
The project is years away from getting under way and comes after a decision to remain in the historic Delaware community. Approvals from the City of Lewes are also required.
Beebe officials first discussed their plans at a meeting with neighbors, The Cape Gazette reported.
Delaware has the fifth-highest net migration rate in the nation for persons aged between 55 to 74 years of age, the state reports. And, Sussex County is the state’s
fastest-growing county in terms of older persons.
The two-phase project will include the construction of a five-story addition to allowing the Medical Center to grow to 203 private rooms.
Plans also call for demolishing older sections of the Medical Center to allow for new and expanded operating rooms, heart procedure areas, and 200 more parking spaces.
“The blue-and-glass façade will reflect Beebe’s connection to the sea, as well as represent the sophisticated and modern facility we have become,” said Jeffrey M. Fried, CEO of Beebe Healthcare.
Beebe leadership had considered replacing the Medical Center with a new facility to be built at the Beebe Health Campus outpatient location a few miles away in Rehoboth Beach.
It was determined that such the project would be cost prohibitive.
Instead, Beebe will continue to improve inpatient, surgical, women’s health, and emergency services in Lewes, while it expands outpatient programs at locations in Rehoboth Beach, Georgetown, Long Neck, Millsboro, Millville and Milton.
Existing outpatient programs include Tunnell Cancer Center, Cardiac Rehabilitation, and the Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease in Rehoboth Beach; and Beebe HealthyBack in Georgetown. Beebe also offers Physical Rehabilitation, Lab and Diagnostic Imaging outpatient services at locations throughout southern Delaware.
Once the Lewes campus project is completed, the Medical Center will have 237 licensed beds. Today, Beebe is licensed for 210 beds. The project, which will be presented to the Lewes Board of Adjustment for review before it can be heard by the full City Council/
Plans also call for improved traffic flow elements that are sensitive to the surrounding neighborhood streets of historic Lewes. In keeping with the historic nature of Lewes, part of the early 20th-century façade of the first hospital will be incorporated into the overall design.
Once the project is approved, Beebe’s clinical team will take an active part in the design of patient and medical procedure areas. The construction project is anticipated to begin by 2019.
The Beebe announcement is the latest in a series of hospital expansion projects in the state. Twenty five miles to the north of Lewes, Bayhealth plans to replace Milford Memorial Hospital with a $250 million health campus.
Milford, like Lewes has seen an influx of residents, including a large number of older residents drawn to a small town lifestyle and low property taxes.
Bayheatlh’s Kent General Hospital in Dover has undergone expansion programs totaling $150 million, with recently completed projects at Christiana Care and Nemours Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children totaling half a billion dollars.
