University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health facilities open as century-old Harford Memorial Hospital closes
Feb. 6—By Angela Roberts — aroberts@baltsun.com — Baltimore Sun
PUBLISHED:February 6, 2024 at 4:41 p.m.| UPDATED:February 8, 2024 at 10:42 p.m.
Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace closed its doors Tuesday — a decision that's been years in the making, but still evoked some mixed feelings from county and University of Maryland Medical System leadership.
The last 36 patients at the century-old hospital left the facility in the morning, traveling by ambulance to the newly updated University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air or the new UMUC Medical Center Aberdeen.
One patient was discharged, said Elizabeth Wise, president and CEO of UMUC Health, at a news conference Tuesday afternoon at the Aberdeen health center, which is six miles from Havre de Grace.
"This is a very historic day for us," Wise said, "but it's also bittersweet as we transition the care out of Harford Memorial Hospital to this campus and our Bel Air campus."
With the closing of the aging Harford Memorial Hospital, the UMUC Medical Center in Bel Air became the only full-service hospital in the county. In recent years, the University of Maryland Medical System has invested millions into the Bel Air facility and the new 130,000-square-foot health center in Aberdeen.
UMUC Health held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month for a new three-floor, 75,000-square-foot patient tower at the Bel Air hospital. The patient tower includes 72 beds — the same number as Harford Memorial — and also opened on Tuesday.
The new Aberdeen facility, located next to Target on the Aberdeen Thruway/MD Route 22, includes an emergency department and observation care area, behavioral health pavilion with outdoor courtyards, and a helipad for transfers to the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
The facility also includes specialized emergency department rooms designed for older patients, which feature padded floors, larger fonts on signs, warm colors and brighter lighting.
Rooms at the behavioral health pavilion are fully private, with their own showers and bathrooms. The mental health bed count at the Aberdeen facility also is higher than the one at Harford Memorial, with an increase from 27 to 33 beds, said Jennifer Reading, executive director of behavioral health at UMUC Health and The Klein Family Center.
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Exterior of the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on its opening on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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Exterior of the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on its opening on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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Exterior of the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on its opening on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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Exterior of the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on its opening on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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County Executive Bob Cassilly speaks at the podium while joined by Fermin Barrueto, Senior Vice President/Chief Clinical Officer and Stacy Guerin, Assistant Vice President of Operations as they discuss the opening of the new University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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Fermin Barrueto, Senior Vice President/Chief Clinical Officer discusses the opening of the new University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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Stacy Guerin, Assistant Vice President of Operations discusses the opening of the new University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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Jennifer Redding, University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health's executive director of behavioral health, speaks at the podium while joined by, from left, Fermin Barrueto, senior vice president/chief clinical officer; Stacy Guerin, assistant vice president of operations; and Elizabeth Wise, UMUC's president and CEO, as they discuss the opening of the new University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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Elizabeth Wise, President and Chief Executive Officer, speaks at the podium while joined by, from left, Fermin Barrueto, Senior Vice President/Chief Clinical Officer, Stacy Guerin, Assistant Vice President of Operations and Jennifer Redding, Executive Director of Behavioral Health, as they discuss the opening of the new University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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Elizabeth Wise, President and Chief Executive Officer, speaks at the podium while joined by, from left, County Executive Bob Cassilly, Fermin Barrueto, Senior Vice President/Chief Clinical Officer, Stacy Guerin, Assistant Vice President of Operations and Jennifer Redding, Executive Director of Behavioral Health, as they discuss the opening of the new University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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Exterior of the new University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center Aberdeen on its opening on Tuesday. (Brian Krista/staff photo)
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"We're also transitioning over our outpatient programs and really just striving to provide that continuum of care for Harford County," Redding said, "whether someone needs a simple weekly outpatient appointment with their therapist or psychiatrist, all the way through to inpatient care."
The Aberdeen medical campus also includes a 93,000-square-foot Health and Wellness Center, which opened late last year and offers clinical services such as primary care, endocrinology and diabetes care, cardiology, hematology and oncology, infusion, wound care, orthopedics, physical therapy and rehabilitation.
Like Wise, Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly used the word "bittersweet" Tuesday to describe the closing of Harford Memorial.
"As somebody who was actually born in Harford Memorial Hospital, you look back, there's a lot of history there," he said. "But we're on to the future, and I'm excited for the new facilities and the opportunities this brings to all of us to provide state of the art medical care for the citizens of Harford County."
Harford Memorial remained open for administrative use Tuesday, Wise said, and leaders plan to keep a security presence there and maintain the facilities until they work with the Havre de Grace City Council to decide on a future for the building.
Even though the hospital's closing has been a long time coming, it's sad for Havre de Grace residents, especially those who lived within walking distance to the facility, said Jacob Bennett, the Harford County council member for District F, which includes the town at the mouth of the Susquehanna River.
Bennett said he's pleased that UMUC Health distributed postcards to community members to inform them of the hospital's impending closure, since he was concerned that someone would walk to the hospital in need of care, only to find an empty building. He also was impressed by the new Aberdeen facility when he toured it last month.
However, he said, Harford Memorial's closing always will be a "huge loss."
"At this point, we can't change the fact that the hospital is closing," said Bennett, who lives with his family in Havre de Grace. "All we can do is to advocate to make this as best a situation as possible, considering the cards we've been dealt."
To give additional notification of the hospital's closing, UMUC Health sent robocalls Monday to Harford County residents, Wise said. The health system will send out another postcard soon to community members, informing them that the Aberdeen health center is now open.
UMUC Health also worked with the county to ensure that the new Aberdeen facility would be on a bus route, Wise said. Residents in need of transportation can take the Harford Transit Link green line to the health center.
Patients will be able to stay at the Aberdeen medical center for up to a day or two, but those requiring longer-term hospitalizatio
n will need to be transferred to the Bel Air medical center, about 14 miles away, or another medical center.
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