Beebe’s 100th anniversary deserves celebration
Beebe Healthcare President Jeff Fried spoke to a Lewes Chamber of Commerce installation audience recently. He addressed the crowd as incoming president of the chamber for 2016. It’s fitting that Fried will serve in that office for 2016, considering the year marks the 100th anniversary of brother doctors James and Richard Beebe’s decision to open a hospital for the coastal area.
Impact on our local economy? Consider this: Fried said Beebe records show that in 1930, hospital expenses totaled $42,000. They were covered with $33,000 collected from patients and through appeals to an ever-appreciative community. (Records also show that around that time one patient named Horace Warrington spent two months in the hospital, racking up a bill of $200. After Horace and his family brought in 20 pounds of potatoes and eight pounds of greens, the bill dropped to $160.)
Now fast forward to the fiscal year that ended in June. Fried said the hospital’s expenses for the year just ended totaled $297 million. Of that, he said, the hospital wrote off $20 million in unreimbursed care for those less fortunate. Needless to say, Beebe Healthcare stands as the single-largest economic driver for Delaware’s Cape Region.
Beebe Healthcare has invited the community to attend a kickoff event for the 100th year anniversary Wednesday, Sept. 30. A historical marker on Savannah Road will be unveiled, the Cape Henlopen High School Choral Group will sing, dignitaries will speak. Beebe officials will have a chance to thank the community for its support through the years, and the community will be able to express its appreciation for a healthcare institution that has served many thousands of us over the past century while also contributing greatly to our community.
As for the future, Fried said Beebe‘s goal is keeping people healthy and out of the hospital, and doing the right thing for the right reasons. Evidence of that commitment came quickly as signs went up this week and notices went out that Beebe is now providing free flu shots ahead of the winter season.
Beebe Healthcare provides a solid anchor for Delaware’s Cape Region. That’s a real blessing.
