As Crozer closes, community health navigators train to meet Delco’s new healthcare challenge

Delaware County’s new healthcare challenge could look like an expectant mother, who had a single prenatal visit at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, is due in two months, and isn’t sure where she can go for care that’s reachable by bus.

Or an elderly man who needs a new cardiologist, and his son isn’t sure who to call, now that the Crozer health system the family relied on for care is closing.

How to help residents navigate such scenarios was the focus of a training event for community health workers held Friday, the hospital’s last day, by insurer Keystone First at its Wellness and Opportunity Center in Chester.

Crozer-Chester Medical Center and its sister hospital, Taylor Hospital, were set to officially shut down, ending years of financial turmoil and efforts to keep open a critical safety-net health system.

Crozer’s for-profit owner, Prospect Medical Holdings, received bankruptcy court approval last week to close the hospitals, with the goal of having all patients out by Friday.

Crozer’s Upland campus was quiet Friday morning, with a roadside message board sign alerting patients in English and Spanish that the emergency department was closed, and to call 911 for help getting to another hospital.

Nearby in Chester, Keystone First’s community health navigator training day drew two dozen health professionals, community advocates, and public health workers anticipating an influx of former Crozer patients who will need help figuring out where to go for care.

“With Crozer gone, there’s a crater in the landscape of healthcare in Chester and the surrounding area,” said Joanne McFall, market president of Keystone First, a leading Medicaid managed-care plan in the region.

Crozer served an area that does not have easily accessible healthcare alternatives, especially for low-income residents who cannot drive. The nearest alternatives to Crozer-Chester are Riddle Hospital in Media and Mercy Fitzgerald in Darby — both nearly 10 miles away.

» READ MORE: Eight additional ambulances will start service in Delaware County Saturday following Crozer’s closure

Many local residents relied on Crozer-Chester’s emergency department for a wide range of urgent health needs. In the first three weeks of March, it had been seeing an average of 86 daily ED visits, bankruptcy court filings showed.

Danielle Suarez, a master of public health student who works with ChesPenn Health Services and Chester’s health department, said she is concerned that people may skip needed care because they relied on public transportation to get to Crozer, and aren’t sure how to navigate a different route.

She attended the training along with county health workers, Keystone First employees, church leaders, and people who work for nonprofit health organizations in the area, such as ChesPenn, a federally qualified health center.

As a longtime Marcus Hook resident, Suarez said she understands how much the community relied on Crozer.

She hopes that honing her skills as a community health navigator will enable her to help identify community members who are struggling to access care “and help them get where they need to go,” she said.