For many families on the Cainhoy peninsula, reaching an emergency room used to mean crossing a bridge, according to Novant Health. Since late July, they have had one close to home.

Novant Health opened its Clements Ferry Emergency Department at 960 Charleston Regional Parkway, the health system announced July 28. Three weeks later, HCA Healthcare opened its Long Point ER in Mount Pleasant. In June, Roper St. Francis Healthcare cut the ribbon on a Summerville pavilion built around a 24-hour emergency department.

More are coming. Novant is building one in the Summers Corner community in Dorchester County, HCA has said another is planned for Johns Island this fall, and HCA broke ground in May on a $15 million ER in Cane Bay.

All three systems say they are following population growth into suburbs that sit a long drive from a hospital.

What a freestanding ER is

These buildings are full emergency departments, open around the clock and staffed by emergency physicians, but they are not attached to a hospital. Patients who need to be admitted or need specialized care are stabilized and transferred to a hospital, according to Novant.

The Clements Ferry site “is not an urgent care center and does not offer scheduled appointments or primary care services at this time,” Kirsten Royster, president of Novant Health’s Charleston area, told The Daniel Island News in June.

Novant’s first in the region

The Clements Ferry building covers 10,500 square feet, according to Novant. It has 10 treatment rooms, a trauma bay, CT and X-ray imaging and an on-site laboratory, The Daniel Island News reported, and was expected to employ dozens of clinical and support staff.

Novant said it picked the site after studying population growth, traffic patterns and roads. The department serves Daniel Island, Cainhoy, Point Hope and the rest of the Clements Ferry corridor.

“For many families in this area, having emergency care nearby means they can receive treatment without having to cross a bridge before reaching an emergency department,” said Theresa Lynn, the department’s manager, in Novant’s announcement.

Novant, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, owns East Cooper Medical Center in Mount Pleasant. It was one of three South Carolina hospitals Novant bought from Tenet Healthcare in a $2.4 billion deal completed in February 2024, Chief Healthcare Executive reported.

Its next Charleston-area emergency department is in Summers Corner, where Novant broke ground in October 2025. That campus will pair an 11,000-square-foot emergency department, with 10 exam rooms, a trauma room and a triage bay, with a 32,000-square-foot medical office building. Novant said then that it expected to open the campus in late 2026, and in July it said a Summerville emergency department was still under construction.

HCA adds to an older network

HCA, which operates Trident and Summerville hospitals, has run freestanding ERs in the area for years. Trident Health broke ground on its Centre Pointe Emergency in North Charleston in February 2014, according to the City of North Charleston, and HCA says its Summerville hospital opened Brighton Park ER near Nexton.

Long Point ER, HCA’s fifth freestanding ER in the Lowcountry and its first in Mount Pleasant, began seeing patients Aug. 18 after a two-year wait, WCSC Live 5 reported. Before it opened, the closest freestanding ER to Mount Pleasant was a 25-minute drive, the station reported.

“When you’re dealing with an emergent situation, minutes matter,” Jeff Wilson, president of HCA Healthcare Charleston and CEO of HCA Healthcare Trident Hospital, told Live 5.

The Cane Bay ER, at 1866 State Road, is scheduled to open in spring 2027 to serve Cane Bay, Nexton, Del Webb, Carnes Crossroads and nearby communities, according to HCA. The 10,000-square-foot building will have 10 exam rooms, a triage room, CT and X-ray, a laboratory and telemedicine for stroke and behavioral health care.

“Families are moving here, retirees are settling here, and businesses are investing here,” Wilson said in HCA’s announcement of the groundbreaking.

HCA said more than 350,000 patients received emergency care at its Lowcountry facilities in 2025.

Roper’s Summerville pavilion

Roper St. Francis held a ribbon cutting June 16 for its Health Pavilion at Sawmill Centre, the Post and Courier reported. The 45,000-square-foot building at 101 Sawmill Centre Drive was scheduled to open June 29, Live 5 reported. Its first phase includes the 24-hour Gregory M. Parker Emergency Department, with eight observation bays, plus CT, MRI, mammography, X-ray and laboratory services.

A 20,000-square-foot medical office building is scheduled to open in December, and an ambulatory surgery center is planned for 2027, the station reported.

Troy Powell, Roper’s chief operating officer of ambulatory operations, described the problem the building is meant to solve.

“What used to be a 30-minute drive to downtown Charleston to our Roper Hospital, now it can take over an hour,” he told Live 5.

The bet on growth

Each system has pointed to population growth. Powell told Live 5 that Summerville’s population has grown 40% since 2010.

“Growing communities rely on essential services growing alongside them,” Royster said when the Clements Ferry department opened.

If the announced schedules hold, new freestanding ERs will be operating by next spring near Daniel Island and in Mount Pleasant, Johns Island, Summerville, Summers Corner and Cane Bay.