Spotlight on: CHOP Care Network Expansion

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, there is a small stash of something quite unusual: gigantic scissors. Every so often, they emerge from a drawer or a closet for official grand opening ribbon cuttings.

You might say it has been a big year for the gigantic scissors.

Three bright, spacious new CHOP Specialty Care Centers opened in 2015, one each in Plainsboro, N.J., King of Prussia, Pa., and Glen Mills, Pa. All three replace previous facilities nearby and add a range of new services, including operating rooms for ambulatory surgery in King of Prussia and Glen Mills and state-of-the-art rehabilitation and sports medicine gyms in Plainsboro.

It is part of a strategy to offer more of CHOP's top-notch services closer to home for many of its patients. "The majority of healthcare is local," says CHOP President and CEO Madeline Bell, "and we want to keep children local to the extent possible, minimizing disruptions for the whole family."

That's also why in March, CHOP opened an After-Hours Urgent Care Center in the Bucks County Specialty Care & Surgery Center in Chalfont, Pa. (Another is in the King of Prussia building.) Urgent Care Centers are open evening and weekend hours and provide an alternative to emergency rooms for non-emergencies.

And that's not all! This coming winter, CHOP will open the South Philadelphia Community Health and Literacy Center, built as a unique partnership with the city. The new facility will house a pediatric primary care center as well as a city health clinic for adults and a branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Also on the site is an outdoor recreation center.

Meanwhile, on CHOP's Main Campus, a major new landmark opened in July: the Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care. The 765,000-square-foot outpatient center on the Raymond G. Perelman Campus across the street from the Hospital, has a 1,500-vehicle garage for patients, and many departments currently in the Wood Center have begun to relocate there. Its official grand opening will be in November. The giant scissors are ready!

— Julie Sloane