Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - ADDRESS: 3555 Williamsburg County Hwy, Cades, SC 29518 PROJECT DIRECTOR NAME: Georgia Keith EMAIL ADDRESS: keithg@musc.edu WEBSITE ADDRESS: https://muschealth.org/patients-visitors/about-us/growth/new-locations/black-river-medical-center CONSTRUCTION & EQUIPMENT REQUEST PROJECT ABSTRACT: Medical University Hospital Authority (“MUHA”), an affiliate of the Medical University of South Carolina, has entered into an agreement with Lake City Community Hospital (“LCCH”) and Williamsburg Regional Hospital (“WRH”) that authorizes MUHA to construct, own, and operate a new hospital that will serve the region of northern Williamsburg and lower Florence counties. The new hospital will assume caring for patients presently served by WRH and LCCH, both of which will cease providing medical services upon opening of the new hospital. MUHA and its clinical affiliates (known collectively as “MUSC Health”) will offer a broad spectrum of both hospital and ambulatory care to the region. A replacement hospital is desperately needed in Williamsburg County due to the October 2015 thousand-year floods in Kingstree, S.C., the county seat of Williamsburg and location of Williamsburg Regional Hospital. More than five years ago, 31 inches of rainfall caused massive flooding throughout the area. Torrents of water inside the hospital building, multiplied by standing water and black mold, damaged the Williamsburg Regional Hospital building beyond repair, rendering the structure unsafe and unusable. Determined not to abandon the citizens of Williamsburg County and the surrounding area, the leadership and providers of Williamsburg Regional Hospital have been operating a temporary hospital to serve patients since April 2016. Modular housing units serve as emergency, exam and other patient care rooms; however, a long-term solution had to be found. Like many other rural health care facilities, Lake City Community Hospital has also experienced financial challenges. Its leaders are working diligently to balance the uncertainties of the future with the need to expand access to health care for its citizens. For small community hospitals, the threats to long-term viability are all too real due to significant declines in both rural populations and hospital admissions. With the opening of this new facility, MUSC Health will be assuring continued access to high quality healthcare in lower Florence County and Williamsburg County. In Williamsburg County’s 2020 Community Health Needs Assessment, Access to Healthcare, Chronic Disease, and Behavioral / Mental Health were listed as the region’s health priorities. The new hospital will not only address these needs but will also offer the communities a unique opportunity to preserve continuity of care with local, trusted physicians while simultaneously expanding access to a high quality, affordable and sustainable health care delivery system. MUHA broke ground in early January 2021 and plans to see patients in the new hospital in 2023. The hospital is being built on a donated 40-acre tract off Williamsburg County Hwy. Once complete, the hospital will be a 64,000sq/ft, one-story building that is fully furnished and equipped. The new hospital will consist of 25 inpatient rooms, a full service periop suite, an emergency department with 16 exam rooms, trauma bay, observation rooms, and behavioral health rooms. The hospital also includes a radiology suite (CT, MRI, Nuclear Medicine, 3D Mammography, Ultrasound), pharmacy, lab, physical therapy gym, cafeteria, and space for support functions.
