Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
‘Sealing Up’ party at Chester Co. Hospital
Entrance used since 1986 closed to make way for a major expansion at the evergrowing facility.
WEST CHESTER » Bucking the trend of the seemingly endless bad news coming from the health care industry, Chester County Hospital Friday held a “Sealing Up” party.
And it wasn’t to close down an operation.
Instead, Chester County closed off the entrance the public has used as the main access to the hospital since 1986 to make way for work to begin in earnest on an extensive expansion.
For about the next 2½ years, visitors to the Penn Medicine-owned property will have to use what the hospital refers to as its “historic entrance” on the opposite side of the current main entrance. Shuttle buses from a new parking garage that opened in November and valet parking at the historic entrance will be provided to minimize the disruption.
The inconvenience will be worth the long-term gain, hospital officials promised as they prepared for the ceremonial closing of the entrance on Friday.
“This isn’t a once in a lifetime project, this is a once in a century project,” Chester County Hospital CEO Michael Duncan said. “When we get done we’ll have the hospital the people of this community deserve.”
Speaking to employees during the ceremony, Duncan noted the historic nature of the project.
“Last time Chester County Hospital went through this big of a building program was 1925 and Pierre S. du Pont paid for it,” Duncan said, referring to the man who spent $1 million to build the hospital at its current location. “If it seems like a big deal, it’s a gigantic deal.”
Penn Medicine acquired Chester County Hospital in 2013 and agreed to spend $130 million on capital improvements in its first five years of ownership.
“We already had the underlying culture here,” Duncan said. “Penn has taken the lid off and let us do our plan. When we were looking (for a partner) we had 17 suitors ... We’re the only hospital in Chester County that’s growing, that’s what being part of
Penn Medicine has done for us. They are so financially strong.”
The first phase of the expansion and renovation project will cost about $90 million to complete and will include:
• 15 modern operating room suites;
• Three high-tech labs for catheterization and electrophysiology;
• 10 additional emergency department rooms that will have doors and walls, not curtains, separating beds;
• New areas for non-invasive cardiology and pre-admission testing.
In addition, the hospital has plans for a second phase that would put 96 inpatient beds on top of the new procedural platform where the new operating rooms and cath labs will be located. The cost of adding those rooms would be above the $90 million for the other upgrades, said Lisa M. Huffman
of the hospital’s public relations department.
If all of the projects being proposed come to fruition the total cost of improvements would be $268 million, Duncan said.
This June, Penn Medicine’s board will make a decision about the timing of and funding for a 4-floor bed tower, which will sit above the procedural platform and has the potential to add 99 patient rooms.
Eric Swanson, principal at Ballinger, the architect on the project, said the
plans call for a continuation of the current Mediterranean Architecture style.
“We’ve been their architect for at least 20 years now, so that helps with consistency,” Ballinger said. “They have similar issues to other hospitals that are preparing for the future. All require more space.”
Maggie McIntosh, director of special projects for the hospital, said the shuttle buses will operate from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. It also has added the number of valets available to park cars and
the number of “red coats” to help visitors find their way around the hospital as they come in the new entrance.
“We’ve tried to cover all the bases,” she said. “It’s going to be so worth it in the end. It’s 2½ years out we’re looking at.”
The new work comes relatively soon after another expansion project. About three years ago, Chester County completed the 93,000-square-foot Lasko Tower, which added 72 rooms for heart patients whose vitals require monitoring,
plus a mother and baby pavilion and an orthopaedic/surgical recovery unit.
Chester County Hospital currently has 248 licensed beds. With about 2,300 employees it is Chester County’s fifth largest employer, according to Pennsylvania’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis.