Christiana Care Health System is a network of private, non-profit hospitals providing health care services to all of Delaware and portions of seven counties bordering the state in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. The system includes two hospitals in Delaware, Wilmington Hospital and Christiana Hospital, as well as the Eugene du Pont Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Center, the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center, the Center for Heart & Vascular Health, Visiting Nurse Association and a wide range of outpatient and satellite services. It is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.
The system's history dates to 1890, when Delaware Hospital was first opened in Wilmington. It was expanded throughout the subsequent decades. In 1965, it merged with Memorial Hospital and Wilmington General Hospital to form Wilmington Medical Center, with each of the three facilities being known as a "division", thus Delaware Hospital became known as the Delaware Division of the Wilmington Medical Center. Later it was decided to close the other two hospitals and replace them with a new one, Christiana Hospital. In 1985, the Delaware Division was renamed Wilmington Hospital.
In 2007, Christiana Care saw 457,348 outpatient visits, 55,512 admissions and 7,100 childbirths. Christiana Care provided $35.7 million in charity care in 2007. With more than 10,000 employees, it is one of the largest private employers in Delaware and among the top 10 in the greater Philadelphia region.
Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, is Delaware's only adult Level I trauma center. It houses 907 licensed beds and includes 22 hospital-based operating rooms and 10 outpatient operating rooms. It is home to Delaware's only Level 3 neonatal intensive care unit and the state's largest maternity center, where more than 7,100 newborns are delivered each year. The Christiana Hospital campus is also home to the Center for Heart & Vascular Health and the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center.
Wilmington Hospital houses 241 licensed beds and is home to Christiana Care's Center for Rehabilitation and Center for Advanced Joint Replacement. Its campus is also home to the Roxana Cannon Arsht Surgicenter, Wilmington Hospital Health Center, an HIV program and the First State School, a private/public partnership that provides in-school education for children with serious illnesses that would otherwise render them homebound. Plans for a $250 million expansion project were announced in 2007 that will include room for 90 new patient beds, new operating room suites, an expanded emergency department and much more.