Put People First! PA received press prior to last week’s action at Crozer-Chester in Delaware County, Southeast PA. Check it out from the Delco Times below by Kathleen Carey.
Crozer Transition Center closes; hospital reopen rally planned for Monday
Another call for county council to take over hospital by eminent domain
By Kathleen E. Carey | kcarey@delcotimes.com | delcotimes.com
PUBLISHED: September 6, 2025 at 7:35 AM EDT
Just as the Crozer Transition Center closed Friday, an advocacy group is planning a Monday rally outside Crozer-Chester Medical Center to get the hospital reopened as one member asked Delaware County to take it over.
On Friday, the Crozer Transition Center at 160 E. Seventh St. in Chester closed.
The center had been opened since May when Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. closed Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital and had been working with former Crozer Health employees in finding new jobs.
“Since May 5, 348 former Crozer workers made 833 visits to the transition center, receiving one-on-one assistance and support,” Delaware County Council Chair Dr. Monica Taylor said. “The center was always designed as a short-term resource to supplement our two PA CareerLink offices in Chester and Media and foot traffic has now declined.”
She emphasized that the PA CareerLink centers at the Delaware County Community College and at 701 Crosby St. in Chester remain permanently open to serve both the former Crozer employees looking for work as well as any other county resident wishing to find employ.
Taylor also noted that the May 13 job fair at Subaru Park resulted in 336 former Crozer workers being hired by more than 100 businesses.
In addition, she said the Delaware County Health Department is hosting another free Navigating Our Healthcare System on Monday from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Wellness Center at 125 Chester Road in Yeadon.
“This walk-in event is especially important for former Crozer patients who need help obtaining their medical records following Prospect’s transition to a private vendor and the recent agreement that will restore free access,” Taylor said. “Attendees are encouraged to bring a cellphone and photo ID for assistance.”
Recently, the Foundation for Delaware County reached an agreement with Prospect to pay approximately $3 million, so an estimated 43,000 patients could obtain their medical records from Crozer Health. At first, Prospect had provided this service for free and then began charging patients $35 to receive their records by email and $75 to receive them via a USB or memory stick.
In addition, the county health department has been hosting multiple Navigating Our Healthcare System events throughout the summer, helping connect hundreds of residents to resources and new providers.
“Together,” Taylor said, “we are making sure that former employees and community members alike have the resources they need to rebound and move forward helping build a better future for Delaware County.”
Relatedly, Put People First! PA member Jamie Blair of Lansdowne issued another call for county council to take over the former Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
In early May, former Crozer nurses pleaded with county council to do the same.
Back then, Taylor explained what’s involved for the county to take over that property by eminent domain.
“The county government, to take a hospital over, you also have to pay for the property at its assessed value and you also have to pay for the operations of the hospital, which is the more difficult process that we would have to cover,” Taylor said at the time.
On Wednesday, Blair repeated the request.
“We’re demanding that in order for the people of Delaware County to have health care, the right to health care, that the county, supported by the governor, use its power of eminent domain to take back Crozer-Chester from Wall Street and reopen it as a public hospital for people,” she said. “This is not about right vs. left. This is about right vs. wrong. Across partisan lines, we all need health care to live healthy and full lives. Our lives are worth much more than Wall Street profit.”
At 10 a.m. Monday, Put People First! PA is holding a rally outside of Crozer-Chester Medical Center as part of its National Day of Action for Medicaid and Against Hospital Closures.
The statewide member-led organization advocating for health care as a human right has been collecting community members’ stories about how the health care crisis in Delaware County has impacted them.
“We’ve heard stories about people who are stuck in limbo for their primary care,” Blair said. “We’ve heard stories about people waiting hours at overcrowded hospitals like Riddle and Christiana because Crozer-Chester was the most utilized ER.
“We’ve heard from so many workers still without jobs or others who couldn’t make it to another hospital in time,” she continued.
Blair noted the county’s health assessment from 2023-24 showed that Delaware County struggles with a wide range of health issues, such as breast cancers, strokes, maternal and natal health, mental health, drug abuse at rates higher than the Pennsylvania average.
“You don’t need to do another needs assessment to prove that allowing hospitals and primary care to be closed and abandoned, that that won’t improve the situation in this county and that, in fact, it has already caused preventable deaths and suffering,” she said.
She noted how certain populations are impacted even more greatly by the Crozer closures.
“Watching the news over months this spring, seeing that no one would come in and buy up Crozer, we saw firsthand how even nonprofits operate by the market logic based on profit, which means our families who are on Medicaid, who are un- or underinsured, are really left to die in the system,” Blair said.
