Dozens of residents of Chester rallied Tuesday evening near the former Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, demanding accessible, affordable health care for people of the city and the rest of Delaware County.
A news release continues:
Rally attendees called on the facility’s new owner, Chariot Allaire, to make a long-term commitment to the community and on the Delaware County Council to implement accountability measures on Chariot, as well as other potential incoming owners.
“What happened to Crozer is a growing trend in healthcare right now. Hospitals are being bought and sold, moved around like assets and capital,” said Dawn Pierce, a Chester resident and member of One Pennsylvania, which organized the rally. “Our health care systems are being turned into a business, when it should be treated as a service. A human right.
“Because of private owners, Delaware County is now a health care desert.”
Prospect Medical Holdings, a California-based for-profit entity, bought then-Crozer Keystone in 2016, and slowly over this decade closed the four Crozer Health hospitals and doctors’ outpatient offices. The final closure was in May 2025 with Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
The rally was the latest action by One Pennsylvania’s Chester chapter in its campaign to alter the trajectory of the healthcare system in the county.
The organization has been circulating a petition titled “Our Healthcare is Not for Sale” that demands greater community control of local health systems, transparency by facility owners, and binding commitments by owners to the region.
Residents are urging Chariot to make a multi-year commitment to stay, open 24/7 emergency care and a trauma center, and establish in-person facilities for patients to access specialty care and their medical records.
“We want to know what their plan is for providing this for the community,” said Linda Matthews of One PA and a Chester resident. “We will continue to push them to provide adequate services. We aren’t asking them to break the bank for us. But we are asking for clear plans. We are asking them to make as many services available as possible.”
One Pennsylvania is also calling on Delaware County Council to strengthen legal accountability for all health providers in the county. The campaign is urging passage of legislation to increase notice requirements before the sale of a health care facility, requiring owners to publicly release their expenditures, empowering the district attorney with greater oversight of for-profit owners, and ending for-profit ownership of health care systems in the county.
In January, Chariot Equities and partner Allaire Health Services finalized the purchase of the facility for $10 million. Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. had put it up for sale in June after closing it in May
After closing Springfield Hospital and Delaware County Memorial Hospital years earlier, Prospect Medical Holdings closed Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital last year after filing for bankruptcy in January 2025. New owners have since purchased all of these facilities.
The former medical facility at 1 Medical Center Blvd. in Upland once housed a 283-bed hospital, multiple medical office buildings and specialized care centers on a 64-acre campus with two parking garages totaling nearly 480,000 square feet.