The hospital is seeking final approval from Sadsbury supervisors to build a outpatient facility on the southeast corner of routes 30 and 10. Hospital officials and the property’s developer, The Provco Group of Villanova, are scheduled for the supervisors’ August meeting.
Once final approvals are in hand, the next step will be filing applications for building and other permits.
The yet-to-be-named outpatient facility is a $15 million investment for Lancaster General, and the hospital’s second Chester County location.
In April 2010, the hospital opened the Lancaster General Health Express, an urgent care center in the Walmart Supercenter at the West Sadsbury Commons, on the southwest corner of routes 30 and 10.
At the express, certified registered nurse practitioners provide treatment for common illnesses such as sinus infections, earaches, strep throat and rashes, as well as health screenings, immunizations and physicals for sports activities, camps and schools.
Lancaster General has trained its focus on western Chester County because of its residential growth.
“One of the fastest growing areas in the region is along the Routes 30 and 10 corridor, where Lancaster and Chester Counties meet,” said Susan Wynne, senior vice president for business development at Lancaster General Health.
“The population is projected to grow by 7 percent and many residents in the community have expressed the need for better access to health-care services.
“This center will fulfill the need for more health care, from primary care to medical specialists and outpatient services that will be convenient to where people live.”
The planned outpatient center will be situated behind Hershey Motors in an area currently farm fields.
It will house physician offices, areas for blood draws and pre-surgery tests, a diagnostics area for X-rays and ultrasounds, and space for pulmonary testing and physical rehabilitation, said Joe Donaldson, strategic implementation engineer at Lancaster General.
The radiology department will be built with enough space to add imaging capabilities such as MRIs and CTs in the future, Donaldson said.
In addition, the outpatient center will offer physician-based urgent care for non-life-threatening conditions such as sprains and infections. That will be a step up from the nurse practitioner-based urgent care offered across the street at the Health Express.
The 36,000-square-foot, two-floor facility will also have a community conference room that can be used for community education, Donaldson said. Both floors will have ground-level entrances.
No date has been set for groundbreaking but Donaldson hopes for late fall to get work under way before winter sets in. Failing that, work will begin in the spring.
Access to the outpatient facility will be from Route 10, initially.
Route 10 highway improvements include turning lanes and road widening, said Frieda Schmidt, Lancaster General spokeswoman. In the future, the access road will be extended from Route 10 and intersect with Route 30 east of the routes 10 and 30 intersection.
The 63-acre site is being developed by Provco, which owns the land.
The outpatient facility is Phase I for the site, said W. Kent Silvers Jr., assistant vice president at Provco. Phase II will be a retail component. As yet, there is no timeline for Phase II, Silvers said.
Both township officials and the developer said residents have not voiced concerns about the outpatient center.
“The community is all for it. They have embraced the idea,” Silvers said, adding that having urgent care available means a parent who has a child with a fever on a Saturday night will now have a convenient place to take the child for treatment instead of a hospital emergency room.
Lancaster General’s plans have not escaped the attention of Brandywine Hospital, which is located less than 10 miles from the proposed development.
“As the closest hospital and primary provider of inpatient and outpatient services to the Parkesburg area, Brandywine Hospital will continue to meet the medical needs of this community,” said Bryan D. Burklow, Brandywine’s CEO. “ ... We work closely with our physicians to give their patients access to advanced services including cardiology, emergency, robotic surgery, neurosurgery, orthopedics and behavioral health. The community has relied on Brandywine Hospital for many years and can count on us to meet their healthcare needs for generations to come.”
To contact staff writer Gretchen Metz, send an e-mail to gmetz@dailylocal.com.
