SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. - The Bayhealth Sussex Campus is growing along with the county as it continues to stay on alert during the pandemic.
Bayhealth is proposing to add beds for medical surgical patients and women's services, as well as a C-section suite. President and CEO Terry Murphy says this would create about 60 new jobs. "We've seen growth in the number of people over the age of 65, which requires more healthcare needs and we've also seen growth in the number of women who are child-bearing age," says Bayhealth President and CEO Terry Murphy. As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Dr. Karyl Rattay says Delaware is prepared for things to get worse. "We all would like to have a crystal ball that shows we're going to be able to maintain where we are or even decrease cases, but I think we all have concerns about what the winter is going to bring as more and more people spend time outdoors," Rattay says. The Sussex Campus opened just off of Route 1 in 2019. Bayhealth says it has had plans in place to handle a higher volume of patients since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the proposed expansion project was planned when the hospital was designed. All 128 rooms at the Sussex Campus are private, but a 17,300 square-foot shelled space on the fifth floor would be used to add 24 more private rooms for patients with medical surgical needs. Five more labor delivery and postpartum recovery room beds would be created from existing office space on the third floor. A C-section suite will be constructed nearby in 1,500 square feet of shelled space. Most of the necessary infrastructure is already in place for the $19 million project, which Murphy says is a lot less expensive and disruptive than building a new floor on top of the hospital. "It comes from our capital planning, so it comes from operations," Murphy says. "We're a not-for-profit healthcare, so if we have a little left at the end of the year it goes to projects like this or new technology." Murphy says the expansions would compliment the services Bayhealth already offers. "We have a high risk OB program, a perinatology program, we have a neonatal intensive care unit," Murphy says. The project is under review by the Delaware Health Resources Board. Murphy says Bayhealth expects to hear from the state in November and that the project will take a year to complete once necessary approvals have been received.