Crozer Health CEO Tony Esposito reached out to the community via a letter to the editor to the Daily Times over the closing of Delaware County Memorial Hospital.

In the letter he said the decision to convert the hospital to a behavioral health facility, and to offer urgent care and outpatient services at Springfield Hospital serves the greatest health need right now in Delaware County by evolving with the community, the Daily Times reported.  

“Since COVID, we have seen significantly less volume at two of our hospitals: Delaware County Memorial Hospital and Springfield Hospital,” Esposito wrote. “Adequately staffing and maintaining these hospitals for a handful of patients is putting a strain on our other busy hospitals.”

So the decision was made to re-purpose both hospitals for what the community most needs: urgent care, outpatient, and behavioral health services.

“Any family who has struggled to help a loved one with mental health issues, or substance abuse and addiction issues, knows how desperately we need more resources,” he wrote.

He pointed out that another hospital is just two miles down the road from DCMH which can accept more patients.

Read more about the response from Crozer Health CEO Tony Esposito at the Daily Times.