By Tim Mastro

SMYRNA — After nearly 100 years, Delaware is building a new Hospital for the Chronically Ill.

Delaware’s Hospital for the Chronically Ill originally opened in 1932. The new 72,000-square-foot facility will be built on the same site.

Funding for the new hospital was provided by $50 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in March.

Instead of multiple buildings on the same ground, the new hospital will have consolidated program services in one building, housing approximately 100 patients, said Delaware Division of Health and Social Services Secretary Molly Magarik.

“I’m so excited to see what the team can do with a brand new facility,” Ms. Magarik said, “The person-centered care that (the staff) already provides, to be able to do that without the barriers of walking through hallways and facility ways, moving people between buildings is just gonna make their lives so much better as well as the residents.”

Despite the outdated facility, Ms. Magarik said the hospital’s staff was still able to maintain a five-star rating during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modernizing the hospital will make it a safer place for residents, Ms. Magarik added.

“The environmental changes that this new facility will bring will better support our state’s response to the next pandemic or even a really bad flu season which we know can be challenging for long-term care residents,” Ms. Magarik said. “That’s exactly what this funding was intended to do.”

The new hospital will feature improvements to the HVAC system, air purifiers and new rooms — important mitigation measures to prevent the spread of transmissible diseases.

“When it first opened its doors nearly a century ago it was a state of the art building,” said state Rep. William Carson, D-Smyrna. “With these improvements and renovations, this hospital will once again be state of the art and positioned to give all residents the best possible care. We’re making an important investment in our community health system at a very critical time,”

According to state officials, construction of the hospital is expected to create 250 to 300 construction-related jobs.