UM Upper Chesapeake Health Hosts 'Topping Off' Ceremony

University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health (UM UCH) is holding a topping off ceremony at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium on Thursday, June 24, at 5 p.m. 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, will attend a brief ceremony to sign a steel beam, a tradition for new construction. The beam will be located in front of the ballpark at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium, and community members attending the IronBirds' June 24-27 games against the Rome Braves are welcome to add their signatures. The beam will ultimately 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.

"University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health is a community-based health care system that has served Harford County for over a century. We want to engage members of our community in this new chapter of health care delivery by welcoming them to sign their name on this beam. By doing so, they will be part of the permanent display timeline that will highlight the important history and contributions of University of Maryland Harford Memorial Hospital," 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.