AN IMPORTANT UPDATE: Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital

January 3, 2005

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Happy New Year!  I am writing today to provide an important update on the current status of the Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital.

Just two weeks from now, on January 18, Roper St. Francis representatives will travel to Columbia to meet with the Project Review Committee at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.  This represents the next important step in securing state approval to proceed with our project.  As you may know, demonstrated community support will be an important factor in DHEC's consideration of our project.   

For this reason, we are asking for your help as we prepare for this meeting.  

In recent months, I have enjoyed speaking with many of you about the need for a new hospital to better serve the growing communities East of the Cooper River, and the merits of our proposed Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital.  I have been touched by your overwhelming and positive response, and am truly grateful to those of you who have already written us a letter of support.

For those of you who would like to express your support, it's not too late!  In fact, we'd like to take your letter with us when we visit with DHEC on January 18. 

Please send your letter to my attention by email (David.Dunlap@RoperSaintFrancis.com), fax (843-724-1959) or regular mail (Roper St. Francis Healthcare, 69 Barre Street, Charleston, SC 29401).

More information about the Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital as well a sample letter of support is also available in the Mt. Pleasant Hospital section of this site: www.ropersaintfrancis.com/mtpleasant.

I am also attaching an outstanding article recently published by The Post & Courier (click here). It noted that 113,000 new homes are either planned, permitted or under construction in the Tricounty, further underscoring the need to provide our growing communities with better access to healthcare services, closer to home.

Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter.

Respectfully,

David L. Dunlap, FACHE
President and CEO, Roper St. Francis Healthcare