Hospital gets its final beam

MOUNT PLEASANT — In ancient times, Scandinavians would attach an evergreen tree to a ridgepole to signify completion of the top piece on a building.

The "topping-out" tradition also was meant to ward off evil spirits and appease the gods to assure good fortune for the occupants.

On Friday, construction workers at the site of the new East Cooper Regional Medical Center continued that tradition by placing the last steel beam on the $153 million project.

The placement of the beam, which carried the image of an American flag, a small Palmetto tree and hundreds of signatures from hospital staffers and others, signaled the completion of the five-story building's frame.

The new, 140-bed hospital near Von Kolnitz and Mathis Ferry roads will replace the 104-bed East Cooper Regional campus near Bowman Road and U.S. Highway 17.

Completion is scheduled for the spring of 2010.

The 22-year-old existing hospital is out of space and could not be expanded, said John Langley, chief medical officer. "It does not meet code to go up, and we can't expand horizontally because it will take up the parking," Langley said.

The replacement will give East

Cooper Regional the capacity to take care of patients now and in the future, said Janie Sinacore-Jaberg, who started her new job as chief executive officer of the medical center this week.

"We were the oldest hospital (in Mount Pleasant) and now we are the newest," Sinacore-Jaberg said.

Owned by Texas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., East Cooper Regional broke ground on the 54-acre site in November.

When the hospital opens it will total 250,000 square feet and have 600 parking places. The road in front will be named Fulghum Way in honor of Leonard Fulghum, chairman emeritus of East Cooper Regional.

"I never thought we would have something like this in sleepy Mount Pleasant," Fulghum said Friday.

"This is a testament of how much we have grown."

The current two-story hospital's future has not been decided, but it will be sold or leased to another health-care provider, Langley said.

East Cooper Regional's replacement facility is one of two major medical centers that will be competing for patients in the town, which has mushroomed into one of the largest municipalities in the state.

Roper St. Francis Healthcare hopes to open its $143 million, 85-bed hospital off Highway 17 in the northern end of Mount Pleasant in late 2010.

Reach Warren Wise at 937-5524 or wwise@postandcourier.com.