Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby has come up with a plan to handle a surge in patients should Crozer Health and its two hospitals close this week, writes John George for Philadelphia Business Journal.
Meanwhile, Ridley Park has declared an emergency in light of the possible closures, giving the borough the ability to hire temporary workers and buy supplies needed for residents’ well-being, reports 6abc.
Crozer serves hundreds of thousands of people in Delaware County and operates Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park and Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland.
Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital has seen increased volumes in its emergency department and inpatient admissions as bankruptcy proceedings for Crozer Health’s owner, Prospect Medical Holdings, drag out in court.
“It hasn’t been dramatic. It hasn’t been necessarily a storm of patients storming our doors, but we have seen our volumes slowly trickle up over the past month and a half or two months,” said Marlow Levy, president of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic’s Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital and St. Francis Hospital.
Levy said they are anticipating about a 20 percent patient growth if the hospitals close.
The biggest issue for Mercy Fitzgerald is hiring extra staff at a time when health care workers are in short supply.
Trinity Health would draw on an internal pool of health care workers and hire displaced Crozer Health workers if there is a surge.
Find out more about the impact off Crozer Health’s closure in the Philadelphia Business Journal and at 6abc.
