By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

Following a three-year period in which ChristianaCare invested more than $375 million in Delaware, the health care system is now planning more than $865 million in new investments in the First State over the next three years.

The first of these new investments to break ground will be the 87,000-square-foot ChristianaCare Health Center at Middletown, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2025 and open in early 2027. The new hospital will be ChistianaCare’s newest addition to its Middletown presence, and will join its freestanding Middletown Emergency Department, which saw more than 32,000 visits in 2024 and provides an emergency helicopter helipad.

Planned services at the new hospital will include primary care, women’s health, behavioral health, oncology, cardiovascular care, imaging and laboratory services.

The addition of a full health care facility in Middletown compliments ChristianaCare’s continuing strategy of growth and investment in the state of Delaware, which currently includes 36 practices - most of them in the state – that support preventive care, sick care and chronic disease management for approximately 200,000 patients. Together, it forms a symbiotic connection that links technology and infrastructure with high-quality care and the development of strong relationships with caregivers and their patients. 

‘The best care in the best place at the best time’

Janice E. Nevin, the president and CEO of ChristianaCare, said that the healthcare leader’s vision is guided by a community health needs assessment conducted every three years, using input from local communities and key stakeholders; and a commitment to value-based care for the entire population.

“Since our founding in Wilmington in 1888, ChristianaCare has always existed to serve our community with high-quality, compassionate care,” Nevin said. “Our commitment to double our investment in our Delaware neighbors over the next three years is guided by the belief that providing care close to home — or even in the home — is how we improve health and make care affordable. When a higher level of care is needed, we are there providing the best care in the best place at the best time.”

“Back in 2009, our executive team recognized that Middletown was growing quickly, which led to the purchase of 108 acres, so that we knew that in the future, would have a location that would be easily accessible to meet the needs of the Middletown, Odessa and Townsend communities,” said Pauline Corso, ChristianaCare’s president of network continuity and growth. “We recognized the highest gap in service was in the area of emergency medicine care, so we opened the Emergency Department, and it became apparent within that first year, the need for emergency services was recognized, and it was growing by leaps and bounds. 

“Given the growing population of the community – which is projected to grow an additional eight percent by 2029, which is double the growth rate of the entire state - our services in Middletown have not kept up with demand, so it was time for us to create a comprehensive outpatient solution by creating a multidisciplinary local hub of care.” 

In addition to providing added service to residents in the Middletown-Odessa-Townsend communities, ChristianaCare’s continuing investment in Middletown is expected to create significant economic impact in the form of new jobs and construction.

“ChristianaCare has been a great partner to the Middletown community, and we are excited to see the expansion of this campus in support of our growing population,” Middletown Mayor Ken Branner said. “The expansion is also projected to create a positive impact to the community with the expected addition of more than 70 full-time jobs.”

‘Comprehensive outpatient hub’ for Kent and Sussex counties, too

Often – even in smaller states like Delaware – patient accessibility to health care involves lengthy travel that is sometimes exacerbated by some patients having to rely on public transportation to get them to their appointments. With the addition of the new ChristianaCare Health Center at Middletown, patients who have had to travel from Kent and Sussex counties to ChristianaCare’s Newark location will see their road time cut in half.

“When we did our market assessment, we approached this new health center as an innovative and holistic approach to patient care that we know will improve quality of life, not only for southern New Castle County but also Kent and Sussex counties, with the goal being to deliver care closer to home,” Corso said. “This comprehensive outpatient hub will serve as a closer solution, and not only help the MOT community to receive care, it will also help with health equity and accessibility, because we often find that travel restricts many from receiving health care. 

“If we can our care closer to people live, it improves our ability to connect with at-risk populations – and a broader community beyond the MOT area.”

A firm footprint of care

While ChristianaCare’s investment in Middletown will be significant, it is part of a larger goal to establish a firm footprint of care across the entire state, as part of its commitment to provide additional primary care, behavioral health, cancer care and specialty/surgical care:

• In 2020, ChristianaCare partnered with GoHealth to build a new network of urgent care centers in Delaware which is today known as ChristianaCare-GoHealth Urgent Care. The network includes 16 locations in New Castle and Kent counties. These centers provide convenient, fast access to medical care for non-life-threatening conditions.
• ChristianaCare’s Select Specialty Hospital in Wilmington, opened in 2022, is part of Select Medical’s nationwide network of more than 100 specialty hospitals. This 33-bed, all-private-room “hospital within a hospital” accepts referrals from short-term acute care hospitals with critically ill patients who require more healing and recovery time.

• Opened in 2022, ChristianaCare’s Pediatric Care Center at the Center for Women’s & Children’s Health at the Newark campus offers a calm, family-friendly environment for emergency and short-term inpatient care, and serves more than 9,000 patients per year.
• ChristianaCare’s Sleep Center, opened in 2023 on the Newark campus focuses on diagnosing and treating sleep disorders, aiming to improve patients’ overall health and quality of life.
• Opened in 2024, ChristianaCare’s MRI Guided Focused Ultrasound’s noninvasive technology uses soundwaves to treat movement disorders like essential tremors and Parkinson’s tremors, and can provide life-changing results for patients, enabling them to regain their ability to perform simple daily tasks like writing and eating.
• ChristianaCare also began a partnership in 2024 with Atlas Healthcare Partners to create an ambulatory surgery center network in Delaware and across the mid-Atlantic region. Together, these and other projects will create new access to care for thousands of Delawareans.
• In addition, ChristianaCare’s Hospital Care at Home program provides patients with hospital-level care in the comfort of the patient’s own home.

“We want Delawareans to know that our commitment to your health is unwavering,” Christiana Care’s Chief Strategy Officer Jennifer Schwartz, Esq., said. “We recognize that as we grow across the region, it’s vital that we never lose sight of our commitment to our home state. In fact, our growth across the region is an important way that we ensure our ability to continue to invest in the community and meet our neighbors’ needs.”

To learn more about ChristianaCare’s current locations, visit https://christianacare.org/us/en/facilities.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].