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Bayhealth ‘tops off’ new Milford hospital

Bayhealth Sussex campus expected to open in 2019
July 18, 2017

Hundreds of people gathered at Bayhealth’s Sussex Campus construction site under the scorching sun July 11 for a topping-off ceremony celebrating the progress of the new, multimillion-dollar health campus.

The roots of the ceremony, also called topping-out, trace back hundreds of years to early Scandinavian culture, explained Josh Fanelli, vice president of The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company based in Newark.

“People placed trees and branches on top of their new buildings of the day as a sign of new life, and actually to ward off evil spirits,” he said. Now it’s a symbol celebrating a new building and a sign of good luck.

Placing an American flag on top of the building dates back to the 1920s, Fanelli said, and was once a sign of political protest.

“But today the flag has come to mean what you would expect: a sense of pride in work, what we can accomplish together, and patriotism,” he said.

State and local officials joined Bayhealth leaders and officials for the ceremony, which marks a milestone in the construction of a 440,000-square-foot hospital and $300 million health campus that will feature an emergency department, general and specialty services, and children’s services by Nemours.

For more about Bayhealth’s work in Milford, go to www.imaginede.com.

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