Beebe focuses on serving Sussex County
Beebe Healthcare is in the midst of one of the most intensive building and expansion phases in its 105-year history.
Beebe has evolved from its main Lewes facility to health campuses in Rehoboth Beach and the Millville area, with medical offices offering a variety of services throughout eastern and central Sussex County, including four walk-in clinics. Over the past year, Beebe has hired 55 new physicians.
“We are focused on Sussex County, and only Sussex County. Our vision is to have a great community health system with a need to serve every part of the county,” said Beebe Healthcare President and CEO Dr. David Tam during a May 11 presentation to Sussex County Council.
Beebe has eight main facilities and plans to increase its presence in Millsboro with a proposed emergency facility.
At its new South Coastal Health Campus near Millville, Beebe opened a stand-alone emergency center last May and its second cancer care center last July.
Construction is underway on one of the largest projects in Beebe's history. The $125 million Specialty Surgical Hospital off Warrington Road and Route 24 near Rehoboth Beach is scheduled to open in summer 2022.
The 135,000-square-foot facility will focus on short-stay, planned surgical procedures, including orthopedics, general surgery, urology and gynecologic surgery. A women's wellness center is in future plans.
The new facility is adjacent to Beebe's Rehoboth Campus off Route 24, which includes the Tunnell Cancer Center.
Tam said Beebe is actively recruiting new physicians to help meet the growing demand in the county. Since March 2020, Beebe has hired 55 new physicians, including 15 primary-care physicians, seven women's health providers, four hospitalists, five walk-in care providers and three surgeons. He said the new physicians are deployed at Beebe facilities throughout the county.
Beebe and the pandemic
Tam, who started as head of Beebe the same week in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, said Beebe has been at the forefront of testing and vaccinating during the pandemic. He said hospital staff have tested more than 55,000 people and provided more than 40,000 vaccines. He said Beebe staff played a key role when drive-thru vaccinations were first offered at the Sussex County DMV in Georgetown. He said Beebe reached out to begin testing in Georgetown's Hispanic community when the town was declared a COVID hot spot by state health officials.
Beebe developed an app to help people schedule testing and vaccination appointments, and get information about the pandemic.
Beebe has entered into a partnership with Sussex County and its emergency medical services staff to transform the county bookmobile into a mobile vaccination clinic in an effort to reach people in areas where residents limited options for transportation and access to healthcare.
Tam said Beebe has partnered with the Delaware Restaurant Association to provide testing for area restaurant workers.
Like many healthcare facilities, Tam said, Beebe was faced with a dilemma during the first three months of the pandemic when non-emergency medical procedures were canceled. “It was a large economic hit on us, and we had to decide whether or not to furlough people,” he said.
Tam said no one was laid off because Beebe employees are such a vital part of the Sussex economy.
The CEO said Beebe's commitment to serve the county has not changed since doctors James and Richard Beebe started the first hospital in 1916. “We maintain a legacy of empathy,” he said. “Beebe is about one place – Sussex County. We support the county because the county supports us.”
Beebe's main facilities
Margaret H. Rollins Lewes Campus, Savannah Road – 210 beds, main emergency room, inpatient services and surgery, Center for Robotic Surgery, cardiology labs, orthopedics, labor and delivery, with outpatient services including testing, imaging, a lab and pulmonary rehabilitation. The Margaret H. Rollins School of Nursing is also located on the Lewes site.
Rehoboth Health Campus, Route 24 – Tunnell Cancer Center, Bookhammer Outpatient Center, walk-in care, imaging, lab.
South Coastal Health Campus, Route 17, Millville – Cancer care center, emergency room.
Georgetown Health Campus, Route 404 – Imaging, lab, physical rehabilitation and walk-in care.
Millville Health Campus, Creekside Plaza – Imaging, lab, physical rehabilitation, walk-in care.
Long Neck center, Long Neck Road – Lab, advanced-care clinic for Beebe patients.
Milton center, Clipper Square Shopping Center – Imaging, lab.
Millsboro center, DuPont Boulevard – Imaging, lab, walk-in care.
In addition, Beebe has family practice/primary offices in Lewes, Long Neck, Milford, Millsboro, Millville, Rehoboth Beach, Milton and Georgetown.
