MUSC Health has opened a new hospital in the rural Williamsburg County community of Cades, replacing older hospitals in nearby Kingstree and Lake City.

MUSC Health Black River Medical Center, at 3555 N. Williamsburg County Highway, is now open, the Medical University of South Carolina announced Wednesday, ABC News 4 reported. The hospital serves Williamsburg and lower Florence counties and takes over the roles of Williamsburg Regional Hospital in Kingstree and Lake City Community Hospital, according to MUSC Health.

“We are officially open to help people, and I couldn’t be more excited to offer these important services to this area,” said Jay Hinesley, CEO of MUSC Health’s Florence Division, which includes the new hospital. “MUSC Health set out to fill a gap that desperately needed to be filled.”

What the hospital offers

The 64,000-square-foot hospital has 25 inpatient beds, four observation beds, two operating rooms and 16 emergency treatment rooms, according to MUSC Health. Services include 3D mammography, MRI, nuclear medicine, CT scanning, an on-site pharmacy and a full imaging department.

The MRI is the first permanent one in Williamsburg County, MUSC said. Ken Watts, director of imaging services, said the building is laid out to get stroke patients from the ambulance to a brain scan as quickly as possible.

Specialists elsewhere in the MUSC Health system will also see patients through telemedicine, said Dr. Rami Zebian, chief medical officer for the Florence Division.

WMBF described the project as a $50 million hospital last August. MUSC Health broke ground on it in January 2021, according to the health system.

Two hospitals close

Lake City Community Hospital, about 10 minutes from Cades, and Williamsburg Regional Hospital in Kingstree, about 15 minutes away, have closed, MUSC said.

About 90% of the employees and providers from the two hospitals now work at Black River or at other MUSC facilities in the Florence, Marion and Charleston areas, according to MUSC Health.

Lake City Community Hospital’s closing after 56 years affected about 212 jobs, ABC News 4 reported in December. Officials said 80% of those workers would be offered jobs at MUSC facilities, according to the report.

Williamsburg Regional’s troubles go back years. Heavy rain in October 2015 damaged the Kingstree hospital so badly that the building became unusable, according to MUSC. Nurse Debra Holliday worked there for years. “In April of 2016 we opened a modular facility and stayed there for six years,” she said in MUSC’s account of the opening.

“Lake City Hospital wasn’t going to survive,” Holliday said. “They had financial issues and the hospital itself had issues. Williamsburg definitely did. This is just a great opportunity.”

A plan four years in the making

MUSC said in February 2019 that it planned to invest $50 million to replace the Lake City and Kingstree hospitals with a single 25-bed critical access medical center in the Pee Dee, The Post and Courier reported at the time. The announcement came about a week before MUSC completed its purchase of four hospitals from Community Health Systems, including the hospitals in Florence and Marion counties.

MUSC Health said it worked with both hospitals from the beginning to create “a planned and purposeful community transition.”

MUSC Health’s network now provides care at 14 hospitals with about 2,500 beds, with five more hospital locations in development, according to the health system.

First patients

Adonis Doctor of Johnsonville arrived by ambulance and was among the first patients, MUSC said. In the past, he said, he would have had to travel another 20 minutes to reach a hospital in Florence.

“It’s nice. They have good people. They don’t have you waiting, either,” he said.

Ola Mae Capers of Lake City was the hospital’s first emergency department patient, according to MUSC.

Surgeon Dr. Joseph Asaro, who also came from Williamsburg Regional, said the staff finally has a building that matches its care. “I feel like we all deserve this, and the patients deserve this as well,” he said.

Allen Abernethy, executive director of the new hospital, called its opening “a great day in this area for everyone in the community.”

“We have worked tirelessly to make this the best rural hospital and provide the best care possible,” Abernethy said.