Driving to one of Columbia’s urban hospitals, you’ll see a building looming several stories above the street and most likely have to pull into a garage for parking and pedestrian access.
When Palmetto Health broke ground in late October on its newest hospital in the suburban Irmo area, Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge, executives promised a low-rise building with lots of green spaces and convenient surface-level parking to assimilate the complex into the existing community atmosphere of its northwestern Columbia location. The new hospital will open in December 2013 and will serve the residents of Irmo, Harbison, Chapin, Dutch Fork and surrounding areas who currently must travel about 20 miles to the downtown Columbia area for acute care services.
The 75-acre site provides room for future expansion, say Palmetto Health executives. “We made a promise eight years ago [when the hospital building process began] that our first expansion would be into this community,” says Palmetto Health CEO Chuck Beaman, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital October 27, where a crowd of several hundred business executives, community leaders, and residents gathered to hear the announcement.
The hospital system is investing $2 million in road improvements on Lake Murray Boulevard and $99 million into building the new facility, which will include 76 beds, an emergency room, intensive care unit, labor/delivery, newborn nursery, diagnostics/ laboratory center, primary care doctors, and medical specialists.
Palmetto Health expects to create about 400 new jobs and spur economic development from spin-off businesses locating nearby, such as physician offices, hotels and restaurants. Lake Murray Boulevard currently is being widened, and Parkridge Drive is being partially relocated in preparation for the new campus.
Beaman says Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge will showcase “green” features by incorporating sustainable building materials – wood in overhead ceilings and site-specific materials like stone unearthed by construction crews. “This will be a digital hospital, using the latest in technology,” Beaman adds. The hospital system this year won Hospitals and Health Networks magazine’s “Most Wired” award for the fourth time, recognizing its excellence in using information technology for better patient care.
When it opens at the end of 2013, Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge will be the newest hospital in the country. HKS Architects (Dallas, TX) and JHS Architecture (Columbia, SC) designed the hospital, and Rodgers Builders (Charlotte, NC) is building it.
“This is just the beginning.
We will expand over time,” says Palmetto Health President John Singerling, speaking about additional buildings to be erected after the flagship hospital is completed. The initial structure on the site, an outpatient medical building, opened in 2003 to serve the area’s 180,000 residents. Staff already provides a variety of services like primary care with extended hours, a diagnostic laboratory, and an imaging center.
“With the new hospital, the elderly now will have a Center of Excellence appropriate for their needs,” adds Palmetto Health community physician Carey Hite, III.
“This is our opportunity to extend care into this community,” Beaman says. “We want to be remembered for providing care and compassion, which are the centerpiece values of Palmetto Health.”