MILLSBORO – Beebe Healthcare is preparing for a unique expansion in western Sussex County that will not only increase the availability of medical services in Millsboro but will also support improved access and connectivity to the same care.
The Millsboro Town Council gave an affirmative vote Monday night on the nonprofit organization’s preliminary site plan for a new campus which will include an emergency room and walk-in clinic, among other possibilities, and will sit on the corner of DuPont Blvd., or U.S. Route 113, and Hardscrabble Road right next to the new Delaware Route 1 bypass.
Beebe originally purchased the 41-acre plot of land from Lencraft Commercial LLC for $12 million in January 2023 after the Delaware Health Care Resources Board approved the potential development a month earlier.
Dr. David Tam, president and CEO of Beebe, cited the growth of Millsboro and nearby areas as one of the main reasons why the organization is working to develop the new campus.
The Millsboro facility will include a new 72,000-square-foot ambulatory care building with 360 parking spaces, as well as a 24,000-square-foot hybrid emergency room facility that would include some amenities such as labwork capabilities and diagnostic imaging. Beebe Healthcare also works with Nemours to bring a pediatric focus to the emergency room.
“Our data shows that Millsboro is the fastest growing locale in pretty much all of Sussex County,” Tam told the Millsboro Town Council. “We recognize that it is so important for people to have access to high-quality emergency care here in this area. I know that I have several offices throughout the county depending on where I’m at. But when I’m at the Lewes office there on Savannah Road, I see the Millsboro Fire Department coming there every single day, multiple times, and I can only think about how an ambulance coming from the Millsboro area has to go through all that traffic to get to Lewes to the emergency room.”
Beebe Healthcare will not be using the full property as purchased. It sold about 18 acres to the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) to support bypass construction which will directly benefit patients, first responders and area physicians and medical staff.
Now that DelDOT’s construction is coming to an end, Tam told the Delaware Business Times that Beebe is ready to finally start its own construction on its new hybrid location with discussions in the works with Nemours to bring pediatric services to the campus, as well, along with opportunities through Jefferson Health of Philadelphia and other entities.
“When we first started this project, we met with members of the community and talked about an ER there. We met with our fire departments, our emergency medical service people. . . and everybody is for it,” Tam said.
He noted that the ER was for those who were in need of emergency care. Beebe Healthcare will also work to provide community services outside of an ER.
“We want to make sure that we think about other things we should be doing with the community on promoting wellness and improving health and some of that, of course, is access to health care for preventative care.”
To that end, Beebe has purposefully left some space on the new campus empty so the organization can explore future options and needs tailored to the community closest to the new ER and walk-in facilities such as primary care expansions.
“I feel really excited about primary care. We have a severe shortage of primary care physicians in Sussex County compared to even New Castle County. One of our primary care physicians takes care of about 1,800 to 1,900 patients per primary care provider. If you go to New Castle County, that number is about 1,200 patients per provider,” he said. “That’s a stark difference.”
Along with being connected to easier transportation options to and from the hospital by way of the bypass, Tam hopes the hybrid facility will allow for some emergency visits to be rerouted to the adjacent walk-in center when it is not an actual emergency, enhancing the connectivity to more primary care and specialty options across Sussex County.
