Delaware’s largest health system is rebranding itself. Christiana Care Health System is dropping the words “health” and “system” from its name. It will now go by the simpler and more commonly used ChristianaCare— with the two words now united as one word.
ChristianaCare is also changing its logo, which will now be a brighter shade of green and include a symbol representing Delaware’s state flower - the peach blossom.
“The shortening of the name was intended to modernize it. The last part is ‘care’ so it works. That’s what we do we take care of people,” said ChristianaCare President and CEO Janice Nevin.
The not-for-profit health system got its start in Wilmington in 1888 and is now the state’s largest private employer with nearly 12,000 employees.
It includes two hospitals, a network of outpatient services, multiple regional centers of excellence and a gene editing institute.
Nevin touts ChristianaCare’s innovation, its efforts to expand access to care and its movement towards value-based payment methods. She also says the name change reflects the health system's expantion into an organization that addresses the non-medical as well as medical determinants of health.
“We are very intentional about how we think about what are often called the social determinants of health," said Nevin. "So housing, food, preventing violence, transportation, education, workforce jobs. So we have a number of programs with a whole variety of partners within the community. ”
One example is a partnership with Reach Riverside to try to create a healthier community on Wilmington’s Eastside.
ChristianaCare is also moving forward with its trademarked “for the love of health” marketing campaign encouraging people to ask the question “why” when making health decisions. This includes repurposing a shuttle bus to use for mobile community health edication.