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Description

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About Beebe Medical Center
Located in beautiful historic Lewes Delaware near Rehoboth Beach Beebe Medical Center offers an array of inpatient outpatient emergency and diagnostic services Founded in 1916 by two physician brothers Drs James Beebe and Richard C Beebe Beebe Medical Center is a 210licensedbed notforprofit seaside community hospital Beebes specialized service lines include cardiovascular oncology womens health and orthopaedics

Beebe also operates the Beebe Health Campus on Route 24 Beebe Lab Express Wound Care and Diabetes Management Services Sleep Disorders Center Gull House Adult Activities Center Home Health Agency a Nursing School and satellite imaging and lab services throughout Sussex County

Our Medical Staff has grown tremendously since the early 1990s Family practice physicians specialists internists and several surgeons are available so residents do not have to travel long distances for quality medical treatment Beebe also operates the Millville Emergency Center near Bethany Beach during the summer

Beebe participates in many community events annually including the American Cancer Societys Relay for Life the American Heart Associations annual Heart Walk and Heart Ball and the American Diabetes Associations Walk for Diabetes The Community Health Department provides cholesterol glucose blood pressure and other free and reducedcost screenings at local CHEER Centers Super G fire halls churches and other community locations Support programs include a Diabetes Support Group Ostomy Support Group Cancer Buddies and Great Expectations for expecting parents

To supplement care provided by our Medical Staff our Department of Integrative Health offers relaxation and life enhancement programs to help people cope with stress and improve overall health

Mission and Vision
Beebe Medical Center founded in 1916 is a notforprofit community medical center governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees Beebe has become the premier healthcare facility in Sussex County serving a thriving beach and vacation resort area and a growing yearround population

Beebe provides comprehensive inpatient outpatient emergency and home care in medicalsurgical obstetrics pediatrics oncology and criticalcare medicine Outpatient services include an Outpatient Surgical Center Diagnostic Imaging Centers and Rehabilitation

Beebe Medical Center serves as a teaching facility for many regional allied health and professional education programs Clinical practicumsexperience are available in all continuums of care Beebe Medical Center is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

Our Mission
Beebe Medical Centers charitable mission is to encourage healthy living prevent illness and restore optimal health with the people residing working or visiting the communities we serve

Our Vision
Our vision is for Sussex County to be one of the healthiest counties in the nation

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History

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A History of Caring
1916 Men of Vision
That was how Delaware Governor Russell Peterson described Dr James Beebe and Dr Richard C Beebe when he spoke at an open house to the Beebe Hospital now Beebe Medical Center in 1970

At this same location in 1916 these two quotmen of visionquot founded the first private hospital in the state that was not located in Wilmington Appropriately enough it was in Lewes The First Town in the First State Not even Doctors James and Richard Beebe could have envisioned the precedentsetting medical facility that would bear their name The sons of a local merchant and housekeeper the Beebes shared a common goal of introducing modern medicine to a rural area where such services were nonexistent

Some of the brothers early emergency operations were performed on a kitchen table situated in a nearby farmhouse with instruments sterilized in boiling water on a kettle stove

When the two brothers joined practice they opened a tiny fourroom hospital adjacent to their fathers home It had just enough space for an operating room and two patient rooms with a total of three beds

Mr and Mrs Benjamin E Shaw Wilmington natives who vacationed in Rehoboth Beach were instrumental in the expansion of the Beebes hospital Through their benevolent donations in 1921 the hospital expanded to include a fully equipped modern addition complete with operating and delivery rooms and an Xray department With this addition the hospital bed total reached 35

To keep with the increasing demand Beebe Hospital introduced its Nursing Training School in 1921 a school which was accredited by the Delaware State Board of Nurse Examiners The Shaws donation made an addition to the hospital possible This addition raised the hospitals bed capacity to 60

Even with the expansions Beebe was still in its infancy stage of growth The decades that followed were marked by generosity of men and women with the same vision as the hospitals founders They were individuals whose unparalleled generosity planted the seeds of growth for the hospital as its surrounding towns began to develop

But the generosity was not limited to just finances It took people such as Ernest Gooch a close personal friend of the Beebe family whose multifaceted talents were called upon for many aspects in Beebes initial stages It took people such as the hundreds of volunteers who devoted hours of personal time to assist their community hospital each day

Finally it took the surrounding community and its overwhelming support to keep Beebe Hospital at the forefront in every aspect of medicine

These are truly men and women of vision the same vision Dr James Beebe and Dr Richard Beebe had when they first opened Beebe Hospitals doors in 1916

The 1920s
The Beebe School of Nursing was founded in 1921 at the request of a young girl seeking advanced nursing education in her home town The physical growth of the school came quite later with the dedication of the Jean Ellen DuPont McConnell Nurses Home in 1960 The hospitalbased nursing school now sends its graduates into the healthcare profession each year

Benjamin F and Helen M Shaw were benevolent giftgivers to the hospital donating not one but two wings The first which was completed in 1921 included operating and delivery rooms an Xray department and an increase in bed capacity to 35 The Shaws philanthropic nature again led to another wing in 1927 in memory of their daughter Natalie Townsend Shaw The second wing brought the bed total to 60

The 1930s
Beebe Hospitals solarium was one of the many overused facilities that received a reprieve with the construction of the fourstory Thompson Wing in the mid 1930s The new structure upgraded the capacity for more patients with six new rooms and also provided new nursing quarters operating facilities and a kitchen and dining rooms

Ernest Gooch was a name just as synonymous with Beebe Hospital as the Beebe brothers themselves Remembered for his unending generosity including driving the hospitals first ambulance Gooch was considered a member of the Beebe family and was credited with raising James after his mother died when he was only five quotHe was held in such high affection with my familyquot commented Elsie Beebe Sweezey

The 100000 Mary Thompson Wing addition to the Beebe Hospital was dedicated in 1938 It has been named in honor of Mrs Henry R Thompson of Greenville and Rehoboth Beach who had been instrumental in supporting the building campaign The featured speaker was Dr P Brook Bland professor emeritus of Jefferson Medical College who had made the dedicatory address at the opening of the hospitals first wing in 1921 He recalled his prophecy that Beebe Hospital would become one of the largest institutions in the state and predicted it was destined for greater usefulness and importance

The 1950s
Although the hospital had only one delivery chair a total of 80 newborns were delivered in 1938 As the numbers of Beebe babies delivered continued to increase so did the need for quality maternity care In 1957 the Maternity Department was located on a busy second floor corridor Another addition to the Shaw Building in 1958 provided all the privacy and operating efficiency needed to care for newborns as well as a Pediatric Department with colorful cribs and beds

The community not only benefited from Beebe Hospitals advanced technology but also in an area on which no dollar value can be placed patient care The hospitals location allowed neighbors to care for neighbors and close relationships to form between staff and client relationships that can get lost in the busy halls of larger metropolitan hospitals

Throughout the years dedicated employees and volunteers from members of the local community have been essential to Beebes success

The 1970s
The Lynch Wing was beneficial to the hospital not only to accommodate the increasing population in the Sussex County area but also to help further Beebes progress in the scientific area of medicine

The maternity rooms in the Lynch Wing were considered some of the most modern facilities of the day leading the hospital into the 1970s The rooms were equipped with two fully adjustable beds modern furniture for visitors a telephone and a twoway nurses call system

The 1980s
The community of coastal Sussex which surrounds Beebe Hospital was still in its infancy in the early 1980s Therefore transportation to and from the hospital was often quite difficult Beebe Hospital opened a summertime Emergency Room in 1981 in the resort town of Bethany Beach as the only freestanding seasonal emergency facility in Delaware Ambulance service included that of the Millville Fire Company The emergency facility was moved to its current location in Millville in 1983

One of the most notable physical changes occurred in 1985 when Beebe added its fivestory Rollins Wing named for John W Rollins The new structure coupled with renovations to the Lynch Wing now boasted 58 stateoftheart patient rooms a critical care unit consolidation of an outpatient treatment center and sameday surgery and expansion of diagnostic imaging and emergency services

The 1990s
Since its beginning Beebe Medical Centers history has been one of expansion and growth The most recent additions were the Clinical Building with the Tunnell Cancer Center and the parking garage completed in November 1995 Beebes growth continues with the acquisition of Lewes Convalescent Center in December 1995

Beebe Medical Center offers an array of inpatient outpatient emergency and diagnostic services The Tunnell Cancer Center named for Robert and Eolyne Tunnell houses the first radiation oncology treatment center in Sussex County Beebe Home Health the Lewes Convalescent Center Sussex Imaging Centers in Georgetown Millsboro and Millville and Gull House geriatric day care in Reboboth further meet community needs The medical center can also boast such other community services as health screenings educational seminars patient education numerous support groups a speakers bureau and physician referral services among others

1996 Added an angiography suite

1998 Added a cardiac catheterization lab at the Hastings HeartCare Center to help in the diagnosis of heart disease

1999 Completed the Long Neck Health Center to bring family physicians to the Long Neck area Physicians are now operating their private practice from the center and Beebe also operates its Wound CareDiabetes Management and blood draw services there

1999 Beebe expanded the Lewes Emergency Department from 13 to 19 beds
2000 to Present

2003 The Beebe Health Campus Outpatient Care Center opened to serve patients west of Route 1 for outpatient services including diagnostic imaging womens imaging express testing and physical therapy

2004 Beebe began expansion of its Emergency Department on Savannah Road to redesign emergency care services and expand patient beds in the Emergency Department from
18 to 36