Keep Harford Memorial Open For Coronavirus Crisis: Mayor To Hogan

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — Amid the new coronavirus pandemic, Havre de Grace Mayor Bill Martin is asking the governor to prevent the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health from moving forward with plans to close Harford Memorial Hospital.

Upper Chesapeake Health planned to close Harford Memorial by 2021 and open a new facility that was not a full-fledged hospital in Aberdeen.

"We ask you to immediately intercede by Executive Order and stop this action, and to demand that any review of the UM UCH's application be deferred until such time as the state of Maryland can revisit the criteria used for closing such a critical acute care facility in Harford County," Martin wrote. "We passionately argue that now, in the middle of a pandemic, is the wrong time to make such important and permanent decisions!"

He sent the letter to the governor this week, before an April 16 meeting where the Maryland Health Care Commission is set to review the health care provider's proposal to close Harford Memorial Hospital, which Upper Chesapeake has described as "at the end of its useful life" and create a psychiatric hospital in Aberdeen.

Read the mayor's letter to Gov. Larry Hogan asking for the hospital's closure to be stopped here or below.

Related:

• UM UCH Confirms Aberdeen Location for New Medical Campus
• UM UCH Board Evaluates Options for New Medical Campus

Harford Memorial Letter From Martin To Hogan