Trident Health wants to build the first hospital on Johns Island.
Trident Medical Center has applied to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control for a certificate of need to build a 50-bed acute care hospital on the island, Trident Health announced Wednesday. The estimated cost is $277 million.
The hospital would sit between Maybank Highway and Cane Slash Road, directly across from the Live Oak Square development, according to the announcement.
“Currently on Johns Island and neighboring communities, it can take residents 30 to 45 minutes to drive to their nearest hospital, and often longer in heavy traffic and inclement weather,” said Christina Oh, Trident Health’s president and chief executive. “Our goal is to increase access to timely, high quality and affordable health care services.”
What Trident plans
The proposed Johns Island Hospital would open with 50 beds and space to expand to 150, according to Trident Health. Forty would be medical, surgical and step-down beds, and 10 would be intensive care beds.
The plan also calls for 20 emergency department rooms, four operating rooms, two endoscopy suites and a cardiac catheterization lab. For imaging, it lists two CT scanners, an MRI machine, two diagnostic radiology suites and a fluoroscopy room.
The third floor would be set aside for a future labor and delivery unit and nursery. The campus would also include medical offices for primary care doctors and specialists, along with outpatient imaging, including breast imaging, and rehabilitation and other outpatient therapy.
Jobs and taxes
Trident projects that within its first three years the hospital would create nearly 300 jobs, pay $70 million in salaries, wages and benefits, and contribute $10 million in non-income taxes.
“Johns Island Hospital will mean many residents in the area won’t have to leave the island for work,” Oh said. “This will be a great benefit to them and their families.”
Dr. Thomas Litton, a Trident Health surgeon, lived on Johns Island for 20 years and recently moved away, largely because of traffic congestion and limited routes off the island, according to the announcement.
“The rapid population growth and development of Johns Island, as well as its role as the sole gateway to Kiawah, Seabrook, and Wadmalaw Islands, has created a strong need for a full service hospital in the area,” Litton said.
Dr. Scott Hayes, Trident Medical Center’s chief of the medical staff and medical director of emergency services, said delays in reaching care can be deadly. “For residents who live far from emergency medical care and who may be experiencing a medical emergency like a heart attack or a stroke, minutes can mean the difference between life and death,” he said.
Oh also addressed the island’s character. “We will honor the strong Gullah Geechee cultures of the community; we will partner with the areas’ community and businesses; and will promote the important and unique contributions of Johns Island’s agricultural community,” she said.
A state review
The proposal still needs the state’s approval. A state law that took effect May 16, Act 20, removed certificate of need requirements for many kinds of health facilities, but new hospitals still need one. Under the same law, the requirement for hospitals is repealed effective Jan. 1, 2027, according to the S.C. Code of Laws.
A system adding sites
The Johns Island plan comes on top of nearly $140 million in capital investments underway at Trident Medical Center and Summerville Medical Center, according to Trident Health.
Trident Medical Center recently opened Live Oak Mental Health & Wellness, a 60-bed freestanding mental health hospital at 3445 Ingleside Blvd. in Ladson, as well as a parking garage with more than 600 free spaces and a new cardiac catheterization lab at its North Charleston campus.
The proposed hospital would be 7 miles from James Island Emergency, a Trident freestanding emergency room at 945 Folly Road that is expected to open in the next few weeks, according to the announcement.
Trident Health, part of HCA Healthcare, also runs freestanding emergency departments at Brighton Park, Centre Pointe and Moncks Corner Medical Center.
