Virtua Health marks beginning of $500 million expansion of Our Lady of Lourdes in Camden
Virtua's $500 million project includes construction of a new six-story patient pavilion, named in honor of philanthropist Marvin Samson, and renovation of the existing hospital.
Virtua Health, South Jersey’s largest health system, celebrated the start of construction of a $500 million expansion and renovation of Our Lady of Lourdes in Camden, part of a Catholic health system Virtua acquired in 2019.
A six-story patient pavilion, named in honor of philanthropist Marvin Samson, will have 78 private patient rooms, 10 operating suites, four cardiac catheterization labs, and other facilities, Virtua said Wednesday. The existing hospital has 340 beds.
Samson, a local pharmaceutical entrepreneur, pledged $5 million from the Marvin Samson Foundation for Virtua’s education and workforce development programs, Virtua said.
Expected to open by the end of 2027, the new building will focus on complex services offered at Our Lady of Lourdes, including cardiovascular care, organ transplants, and neuroscience services in partnership with Penn Medicine.
Wednesday’s event included a “ground blessing” by Bishop Joseph Andrew Williams, the new leader of Camden’s Roman Catholic Diocese, and remarks by a representative of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, according to Virtua. The order raised money to pay for the hospital’s original construction 75 years ago.
In a sign of its current financial strength, Virtua plans to pay for the new construction without borrowing money, according to a December report by credit-ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.
Virtua is planning to spend an additional $350 million on projects at its 383-bed Virtua Mount Holly Hospital in Burlington County. The organization also has hospitals in Marlton, Voorhees, and Willingboro.
The health system had $3.24 billion in revenue last year, according to its audited financial statement. Its operating income was $195 million. Those figures were gains from 2023, when Virtua had operating income of $159 million on $2.8 billion in revenue.