SHARON — After reopening last Tuesday, Sharon Regional Medical Center has logged a just full week — but it's doing well, its leader said.
“It’s better than we anticipated,’’ Radha Savitala, Sharon Regional’s CEO, said Friday.
The state Department of Health allowed the hospital to reopen after being closed by its former owner, Steward Health Care, on Jan. 6, as part of its bankruptcy. Nonprofit Tenor Health Foundation Sharon LLC, where Ms. Savitala also serves as its CEO, bought the hospital on Jan. 22.
As planned, the hospital experienced a “soft’’ opening whereby it is being reopened gradually, starting with the emergency room, intensive care and 12 beds for admitted patients and a total of 14 beds at its behavioral health department.
“We’re seeing admissions increasing slightly every day,’’ she said.
So far, the more serious cases involve patients who injured themselves from falling, Ms. Savitala said, and added the hospital is seeing some admitted patients for behavioral health.
“Patients have been telling us how happy they are with the service they’ve gotten and that it’s so close to home,’’ she said.
Around 600 employees have been brought back so far, she said.
At its peak a couple years ago, the hospital had over 1,000 employees, but those numbers were slashed as Steward’s finances deteriorated.
Next on Ms. Savitala’s to-do list: Opening the operating rooms for surgeries. A mid-April opening of that department is planned.
Also, the hospital wants to reopen its heart catheterization unit. Discussions are ongoing on how that department will be staffed.
“We hope to have better information over the next week or so on that,’’ Ms. Savitala said. “We certainly understand there’s a need for this in our community.’’
Most satisfying of all has been watching hospital employees returning to their jobs.
“I’ve had people say they’ve never seen our staff so happy,’’ she said.
Separately, Ms. Savitala acknowledged she’s been following the rapidly deteriorating situation at two for-profit hospitals just outside of Philadelphia in Delaware County, Crozer Chester Medical Center in Upland and Taylor Hospital in Ridley.
Owned by Prospect Medical Holdings, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 11. Earlier this month Crozer said it would seek to close the hospitals but were rescued by state and Delaware County funding to keep the hospitals operating while a buyer was found.
But those funds are on the verge of drying up. Prospect said in an emergency bankruptcy hearing on Thursday that a long-term deal to save the hospitals with nonprofit Penn Medicine and its partners had “blown up.’’
Tenor isn’t at the table with Prospect, Ms. Savitala said.
“But it’s fair to say we would like to help,’’ she said. “We don’t want to see another community impacted from a lack of health care.’’
First Published: March 24, 2025, 9:42 p.m.
Updated: March 25, 2025, 6:27 p.m.
