LEWES, Del.- Bayhealth Total Care is the next step in the hospital system's commitment to Sussex County.
A commitment that started three years ago with Bayhealth Sussex Campus and now is moving south. Chief Medical Officer & Senior Vice President Dr. Gary Siegelman says there will be many services that will be available.
"We'll have this hybrid emergency center and walk-in center on the first floor," Dr. Siegelman said. "The second will have a number of primary care practicers both physicians and advance practice clinicians. And then we'll have oncology, we'll have orthopedics, we'll have urology, we'll have women's care, we'll have cardiology."
All of these services stacked into one building that is positioned in the heart of the county. President & CEO of Bayhealth Terry Murphy says there is a good portion of the population is over the age of 65.
"Of the roughly 240,000 people that live in Sussex County, almost thirty percent of them are over 65 today," Murphy said. "So you can see this area of Sussex County and its growth rate, there's so much need for healthcare services."
Having the hospital at its location will help different local response units like Milton Fire's Emergency Medical Services. EMS Supervisor Ed Van Vorst says that ultimately it is up to the patient where they want to be transported to but response times will be affected for the better because of the county's new addition.
"Time-wise, it's going to cut down a lot of our response times but we can make more responses for the county and the town of Milton because we have that closer facility," VanVorst said.
Leaders at Bayhealth all say that expansion in Sussex County will better serve the people that live there. This building is expected to be ready in about a year.