The new owners of a shuttered hospital in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, are working to bring the facility back to life.
Todd Strine, owner of ambulance company Keystone Quality Transport, is among a group of investors who bought the shuttered Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park for $1 million earlier this month. Now they're cleaning and preparing the building for tours with regional health care providers who could potentially lease the space.
"We have our first tours this week," Strine said. "We're very excited."
The facility closed in April after its former owner, Prospect Medical Holdings, filed for bankruptcy. The closure left thousands of residents without local access to emergency care and many without jobs.
The plan is to lease the facility to a health care provider that can operate it as a full-service medical center once again.
"We're talking about places like Penn or Jefferson or Main Line or Trinity, perhaps somebody from Delaware like a Nemours or Philadelphia like CHOP," Strine said, mentioning some of the area's major health care systems. "Would love to have specialty care here."
The new ownership team has the support of Dane Collins, president of the Ridley Park borough council. Collins said that the borough, county and school district agreed to keep taxes low on the property for a couple of years until a new tenant moves in and starts making money.
"Within the last five to seven years, we've had four hospitals in Delaware County close, with Taylor obviously being one of them," Collins said. "Reopening is vital for the community, and it's unbelievably important for me."
Harry Lewis, a foreman at the hospital, is leading a team of 15 people to clean up the hospital.
"I'm from the neighborhood, and this is one of the hospitals that we have used," Lewis said. "It's very significant that if we have a hospital, it'll help our mothers, our grandmothers, the children, everyone in the community."
While there is no firm reopening date, Strine said the interest from providers is real. The hope is to bring back both health care services and jobs by the end of the year.
"We think this place is a gem," he said. "We're looking for an operator who feels the same way."
Madeleine Wright
Madeleine Wright is a bilingual general assignment reporter for CBS News Philadelphia who is fluent in Spanish. She joined the team in January 2022 and was named the Delaware County reporter in July 2023.