ChristianaCare’s Aston micro-hospital will bring 24/7 emergency services in June
The Aston campus will also offer primary care and specialty services in a health center expected to open later this year.
ChristianaCare’s new micro-hospital in Aston is scheduled to open in early June, bringing a full-service emergency department to a part of Delaware County where emergency services have been strained since last year’s closure of the county’s largest hospital, Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
ChristianaCare’s $50.9 million Aston campus, located at 700 Turner Industrial Way, includes a 10-bed emergency department that will be open around the clock and serve an estimated 15,000 patients a year. On the building’s second floor, a health center with primary care, cardiology, and other specialty services is expected to open in the fall.
Micro-hospitals, also known as neighborhood hospitals, are seen as a way to bring needed care to communities that lack a traditional medical center. They are equipped to handle the vast majority of medical emergencies, while stabilizing and transferring patients who need more advanced care.
“We want to bring the right care at the right place, closer to home,” said Vinay Maheshwari, physician executive for growth and strategic partnerships at ChristianaCare. “This community deserves a sustainable healthcare system.”
ChristianaCare opened the Aston hospital’s doors to media for an advance look on Friday. The health system expects to announce an official opening date in the coming weeks.
The Aston hospital is the first of two such facilities the Delaware-based health system plans to open in the area. A micro-hospital in Springfield is slated to open next year.
ChristianaCare opened its first micro-hospital in West Grove last year.
ChristianaCare grows in Delaware County
Each of ChristianaCare’s neighborhood hospitals is paired with a health center that is tailored to meet the unique health needs of the community.
In Aston, ChristianaCare surveyed community members to identify healthcare gaps. They found that emergency care, primary care and cardiology were among the services in greatest demand, Maheshwari said. The Aston health center will initially have two primary care providers, and up to five in the coming years.
The emergency department is equipped with CT scanning, x-ray, ultrasound, and laboratory services. Patient rooms are equipped for virtual consultations with providers at other hospitals.
The new micro-hospital is about four miles from Crozer-Chester Medical Center, which operated a level II trauma center and burn unit, in addition to the county’s busiest emergency department, before it closed last year. Since then, the next-closest hospitals, Riddle Hospital in Media and Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, have seen a sharp increase in patients.
About three-quarters of the Aston campus’s 75 staff are former Crozer employees, which Maheshwari said hopes will help ChristianaCare build trust within the community.
Bill Buddle worked as an ER registrar at Crozer for 22 years, helping patients get checked in and triaged in the busy emergency department. Now he will be the first person people see when they walk in ChristianaCare’s Aston hospital.
“It’s going to fill a void,” Buddle said of the new hospital.
ChristianaCare has expanded elsewhere in the region by absorbing five former Crozer outpatient locations in Broomall, Glen Mills, Havertown, and Media in a $50 million bankruptcy auction.
