Ground Broken for Ambulatory Care Surgery Center and “Topping Out” Ceremony Held for Inpatient Bed Expansion
University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health (UM UCH) announces progress on two construction projects at its University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center campus in Bel Air, both designed to provide additional services for the community and an improved patient experience. Ground has been broken for the ambulatory surgery center, and a “topping out” and beam-signing ceremony has been completed for the new inpatient bed tower expansion, improvements which are part of UM UCH’s strategy to transform health care in the region.
“It is a very exciting time for all of us at UM UCH. The ambulatory surgery center is projected to open the latter part of 2023,” said Elizabeth Wise, MSN, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer of UM UCH. “Along the same timeline is the completion of our emergency department expansion and bed tower, adding much needed hospital beds and space for support services. We thank our community and neighbors for their patience as we complete our construction.”
William Cook, MD, Division Head of Orthopaedic Surgery at UM UCH, said, “This ambulatory surgery center has been a dream for us for many years. To have our practice in an environment that offers a full complement of services for orthopaedic treatment will be a significant benefit to all our patients.”
The “topping out” and beam signing for a three-floor, 72-bed addition being added to the Kaufman Cancer Center building took place in late August. “Topping Out” is a tradition that refers to the placement of the final beam atop a new structure.
“On behalf of the UM UCH board of directors, we couldn’t be more proud of the progress for our campus expansions,” said Bryan Kelly, chair of the UM UCH board. “The Bel Air campus has been growing continually since it opened in 2001, bringing the highest quality care and services to our community.”
About University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health
University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, part of the University of Maryland Medical System, includes the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center and the Patricia D. and M. Scot Kaufman Cancer Center on its Bel Air campus. Most recently, it opened The Klein Family Harford Crisis Center in Bel Air offering services for behavioral health. The Senator Bob Hooper House in Forest Hill is an assisted living facility that specializes in hospice. The University of Maryland Harford Memorial Hospital has been operating in the community for over a century and is located in Havre de Grace. The leading health care system and the second largest private employer in Harford County, UM Upper Chesapeake Health offers a broad range of health care services, specialty care, technology and facilities to the residents of northeastern Maryland. Visit www.umms.org/uch for more information.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
