By Greg Ellison

Staff Writer

(Sept. 26, 2019) With the last piece of the Ocean Pines Health Pavilion coming into focus, Peninsula Regional Health Systems  used its “Party in the Pines” event last Wednesday to provide more information on the final building at the Richard A. Henson Cancer Institute.

The gathering attracted a sizeable crowd who heard about existing services at the pavilion and the construction of a fourth structure this fall.

PRMC President of Strategy and Business Development Chris Hall said completing construction of “Building 3,” estimated at roughly 60,000 square feet, would take about a year and a half and would be the key to rounding out services at the Ocean Pines location.

“In essence, it’s like a health care campus without hospital beds,” he said.

The center currently addresses array of health care needs, with the PRMC Home Scripts Pharmacy, Ocean Pines Family Medicine, Junior Board Café, PRMC Adult Fitness, PRMC FamilyLab and namesake Richard A. Henson Cancer Institute.

Adding to the list, in July the new Delmarva Endoscopy Center opened for business.

Director of Community Relations Roger Follebout Jr. said with PRMC’s history of providing cancer treatment to the lower shore dating to the 1970s, the intent behind the Cancer Institute at Ocean Pines was to provide a one-stop location specific to Worcester County.

“We’re the only comprehensive community-accredited cancer center,” he said. “We replicated that expertise and brought it down here as well so people don’t have to travel across the bridge to get the care.”

Situating the Health Pavilion in Ocean Pines made sense demographically, Hall said.

“[Roughly] 40 percent of Worcester County lives right here [and] 26-30 percent of the population is over 65,” he said.

Addressing the medical needs of a significant portion of the community is the goal, Hall said.

“They use health care three times more than any other age cohort population,” he said. “Stop the traveling for two hours across the bridge.”

Among the services PRMC hopes to include within the newest structure slated for the parcel’s south side are CoreLife Delmarva Weight Loss and Wellness an orthopedics practice and MRI services.

“We’re finalizing work on an imaging company,” Hall said.

Luring other specialists, including endocrinology, cardiology, and urology, is also in the works.

“We’re trying to work with a lot of the Salisbury specialists,” he said. “A lot of them are independent, so we have to work with their business plan.”

Regardless of pending growth, Follebout said the Ocean Pines Health Pavilion is already abuzz with activity.

“We’ve grown by leaps and bounds on this campus,” he said. “Every one of the services in here is extremely busy.”

Follebout credits the site’s initial success to the warm embrace offered by the Ocean Pines community at large.

“The patient population is in this area,” he said. “They don’t have to travel very far to reach their doctor.”

PRMC President of Strategy and Business Development Chris Hall, left, and Director of Community Relations Roger Follebout Jr. were on hand at the recent “Party in the Pines,” event to highlight pending groundbreaking for a new structure at the Ocean Pines Health Pavilion.