'Topping Off' Ceremony Celebrates UM UCH's New Aberdeen Campus

University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health (UM UCH) held a topping off ceremony at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium on June 24 to celebrate the vertical construction progress on the new Aberdeen medical campus site.

Ceremony participants, including UM UCH leaders and board members, Aberdeen Mayor Patrick McGrady and members of Erdman, the project's design and construction team, signed a steel beam, a tradition for new construction. Community members who attended the IronBirds' June 24-27 games were invited to add their signatures. The beam will frame a historic timeline display within the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center – Aberdeen (UM UCMC – Aberdeen) campus when it opens in spring 2023.

"The topping off ceremony helped us mark an important milestone in the construction of our new Aberdeen medical campus. We were pleased to invite those involved with the project as well as the greater community to sign a steel beam that will be part of permanent display that will mark a new chapter in health care delivery in Harford County," said Lyle E. Sheldon, FACHE, President and CEO of UM UCH.

When it opens in 2023, the UM UCMC – Aberdeen campus will be over 175,000 square-feet and cost approximately $120,000,000. It will feature an expanded, state-of-the art, 24/7 Emergency Department with a helipad for emergency transfers; short-stay medical care beds; expanded inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services; primary and specialty care physician offices; and full diagnostic services, including radiology, laboratory and infusion. For more information, visit umuch.org/newcampus.