PAM Health opens Georgetown facility

PAM Health started in Dover in 2019. Now with a newly-opened Georgetown facility and a future one in Milford, it will soon have 80 beds in Sussex County. | DBT PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS

GEORGETOWN — Post Acute Medical (PAM) Health and Bayhealth opened a new rehab hospital in Georgetown earlier this month, continuing to forge on in providing acute care in Sussex County.

“We’ve been welcomed in this community from the first day when we opened our Dover hospital in 2019 and, to date, that’s continued in Georgetown,” PAM Health of Georgetown CEO George Del Farno said. “Right from the get-go, we saw a huge need in central and southern Delaware for acute care, and to give people the ability to live on their own power. It’s been amazing to see how we’ve been embraced in the community.”

In early 2022, Bayhealth officials revealed plans to transition  in-patient rehabilitation services to PAM Health. Under terms of the deal, Bayhealth and PAM would have a 50-50 partnership over PAM’s Dover facility, the Georgetown facility on U.S. Route 113 as well as those at its hospital in Milford.

Roughly 40% of PAM’s patients seen at the PAM Dover are Bayhealth patients who live in Sussex County, as of February 2022.

The PAM Health of Georgetown hospital has 34 beds for acute inpatient rehab as well as two gyms for inpatients and outpatients. The facility provides care for patients recovering from brain injury, stroke, neurological and orthopedic conditions, wounds, and spinal cord injuries.

The facility also has an activities of daily living (ADLs) suite to help patients practice tasks they would encounter in their everyday life.

There is also an outdoor therapy garden, as well as areas with curbs and different terrains for patients to practice walking on various surfaces. A putting green also can help patients interested in getting back to the swing of things.

The PAM Health of Georgetown aims to hire 200 people, with a current capacity of 110 staff members. The facility started admitting patients on Dec. 20, and has discharged about 90 people so far.

“At our Dover facility, we would see people have to go out of state. To treat trauma and complicated illnesses, our patients would have to go to Baltimore or Philadelphia, and then they would be transferred to us,” Del Farno said. “I do see the Georgetown facility attracting people from Maryland and Virginia, because we also have patients admitted from Atlantic General Hospital [in Berlin, Md.] and TidalHealth [in Salisbury, Md.] as well as strengthening our bonds with Bayhealth.”

Right now, PAM Health sees patients at the Bayhealth Sussex Campus at Milford at one of its existing buildings. In the next year to 18 months, PAM Health and Bayhealth expect to build a 75,000-square-foot rehab facility, complete with 40 beds, on the campus.

The Milford facility is expected to be a $32 million investment.