By Jim Tatum
Carnes Crossroads is about to get
even busier.
Roper-St. Francis Hospital
officials announced Thursday the organization’s intention to seek state
approval to build a new, full service hospital at Carnes Crossroads in
Berkeley County at the intersection of U.S. 176 and U.S. 17A in Goose Creek.
The hospital will be part of the commercial corridor being developed by the
Daniel Island Company as part of a new planned 2,300 acre mixed use community,
said David Dunlap, Roper-St. Francis CEO.
The hospital is expected to create some 500 new jobs with a $28 million
payroll for this area, Dunlap said.
Berkeley County is the ninth largest county, population-wise, and it is
projected to grow by another 8.7 percent over the next five years, yet it is
one of five counties in South Carolina that does not have a full service
hospital, Dunlap said. In fact, some 104,000 people are expected to be living
within a seven-mile radius of the Carnes Crossing location, he said.
“Roper-St. Francis would like to change that,” Dunlap said. “I believe
the people of Berkeley County deserve a hospital – and I want it to be a
Roper-St. Francis hospital.”
Dunlap said nearly 26,000 Berkeley County residents came to a Roper-St.
Francis facility for medical services in 2007.
The new hospital, which will have 50 beds redistributed from Roper-St. Francis
in downtown Charleston, helps redistribute hospital beds to better serve
emerging population centers, Dunlap said. The new hospital will offer a full
array of inpatient, outpatient and emergency services. In addition to the 50
inpatient beds, services such as 24-hour emergency care, women’s services,
including obstetrics, inpatient and outpatient surgery, intensive and critical
care units, and imaging, laboratory, and pharmacy services, Dunlap said.
“By locating a new, not-for-profit hospital in Berkeley County, these
residents will soon have this state-of-the art care much closer to home,” he
said.
Goose Creek Mayor Michael Heitzler pointed out that the hospital further adds
to a good quality of life already enjoyed in this area.
“It’s here in the city of Goose Creek, which is wonderful, but the
dynamics are so much wider,” he said. “Goose Creek has always been a
pretty well kept secret, but the word is finally getting out: if you want a
good, affordable, comprehensive lifestyle, then come to Goose Creek. But you
can’t have that without available healthcare.”
Heitzler added that, while the new jobs expected are a great addition for the
area, the hospital would generate far more in economic development around it.
“When you think about what it’s going to do, 500 jobs and a $28 million
payroll is great, but it’s just a drop in the bucket,” he said. “What it
will do is much, much more. I’m very excited – I can’t think of anything
more exciting for the people of Goose Creek and Berkeley County.”
Roper opened its first diagnostics center in Moncks Corner in 1991 and
expanded Berkeley Medical Center at Stony Landing Road the following spring.
In 1996, Roper opened the Goose Creek Medical Center on St. James Avenue. Last
year, the organization announced that it had bought 66 acres from the Daniel
Island Company at Carnes Crossroads to build a medical office building, and
requested that SCDHEC approve relocating three operating rooms from Moncks
Corner to that building slated for Carnes Crossroads.
Hospital officials plan to submit the certificate of need application to the
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control n October.
Depending on how long it takes to get the certificate of need, construction
could begin within 2-5 years, Dunlap said.