Smart growth will help fuel healthcare in Sussex County

Whether you’ve been stuck in more traffic, struggled to find a parking space on Rehoboth Avenue or experienced longer wait times to see your clinicians, everyone in Sussex County has noticed our area is facing a moment of tremendous population growth. 

The numbers support this: Sussex County experienced an astonishing 10% growth rate from 2020 to 2023 and shows no signs of slowing down in the next five years. 

Much of this growth is driven by residents aged 65 and older, who typically need more healthcare services and have more complex medical needs. That’s why at Beebe Healthcare, we’ve been working nonstop to find healthcare solutions that meet this growth, including planning how to provide and expand our robust network of specialty services, like trauma care, cardiovascular, rehabilitation, neurology and psychiatry.

Expanding to provide these services obviously requires us to hire more staff. In our 2024 fiscal year alone, we hired 667 new team members, including 45 physicians and advanced practice clinicians, and more than 150 nurses to address Sussex County’s growing population. We’re committed to continuing to hire more clinicians and staff as we expand to meet our community’s needs – but we can’t recruit the talented physicians and support staff we desperately need if they don’t have a place to live.

The physician and healthcare worker shortage is impacting nearly every health system across the country. With the intense population growth we’re experiencing here in Sussex, that national shortage is hitting Beebe and other health systems in our county even harder. In the next five years, we need to add 336 clinicians to keep pace with Sussex’s growth rate. To match the national clinician-to-patient ratio, an extra 1,120 clinicians are required. Those desperately needed clinicians will only choose to provide care at Beebe if they can afford quality, convenient housing here in Sussex.

And it’s not just physicians we need to recruit and house to keep up with population growth. For every physician or advanced practice clinician we hire, we’ll need an additional 4-6 support staff. These workers – nurses, technicians, front desk staff, medical record specialists and more – all provide essential services our patients depend on. When we can’t hire and retain these essential roles, the patient experience can be severely impacted.

The availability of sustainable, accessible housing is a strong influencer in where physicians and support staff choose to provide care. That’s why expanding housing near care centers is a crucial next step to ultimately stabilizing healthcare delivery in Sussex.

This is also why you see Beebe partnering closely with the Sussex County Council, local businesses and other healthcare organizations, actively participating in Sussex County Council and Planning & Zoning meetings, and speaking against moratoriums on growth. It’s why you see us growing westward with our services, and not just along the coast. We need to bring healthcare workers here now to plan for tomorrow’s needs, and we must plan smartly to accommodate these changes.

Strong planning partnerships among hospital systems, local government and community organizations ensure that both infrastructure and healthcare can grow with the community, and Beebe is proud to be at the forefront of these efforts. With sustainable development strategies and a data-driven approach, Sussex County is better prepared for the challenges and opportunities ahead.