Roper plans 50-bed hospital

Just weeks ago, Berkeley County didn't have a full-service hospital, or even plans for one on the books.

Now it could have two hospitals competing for patients within a matter of years.

Roper St. Francis Healthcare unveiled plans Thursday to build a 50-bed hospital on land the company purchased this year in the yet-to- be-built Carnes Crossroads sub- division in Goose Creek.

The announcement comes less than a month after rival Trident Health Care announced that it wants to build a 50-bed facility in Moncks Corner. Trident said the proposed rival hospital does not alter its plans, which do not include a specific timetable.

The Roper St. Francis hospital, which could open as early as 2013, would offer standard services such as imaging, emergency care and diagnostics. David Dunlap, president and chief executive officer, said the facility also will specialize in obstetrics and elderly care.

The hospital would employ about 500 workers, mostly registered nurses and technicians, Dunlap said.

"Five hundreds jobs?" said Goose Creek mayor Michael Heitzler. "That's just a drop in the bucket to what this facility means to Goose Creek."

Heitzler noted that more jobs will likely be spun off from the hospital, helping support the local economy.

The proposed 24-hour facility will not add any new beds to Roper's local health care network. Instead, the medical provider said it plans to transfer 50 beds from its downtown Charleston hospital to the Carnes Crossroads site, where thousands of homes are planned.

"It's vitally important that we as health-care providers acknowledge and respond to population growth and shifts," Dunlap said. "The relocation of hospital beds from downtown Charleston to the growing Berkeley County community makes good sense. Plus, it gives local residents a convenient choice."

Douglas Bowling, vice president of system development for Roper St. Francis, said the projected growth numbers are strong for that area. Already, more than 104,370 residents live within a seven-mile radius of the hospital site, he said.

Last year Roper said it treated more than 25,800 Berkeley County residents for outpatient surgery, emergency care or in-patient hospitalization.

Even as the peninsula hospital loses beds, Dunlap said that facility would be able to treat the same number of people as it does now. He noted that many surgical procedures have become less invasive, so fewer patients need to stay overnight. That, in turn, has reduced demand for beds.

Roper already has requested to shift 85 other beds to a $143 million hospital it is building near Wando High School in the northern end of Mount Pleasant, another growing area of the region.

Roper St. Francis could provide few specifics about its proposed Goose Creek facility, such as the size or the cost. The design plans, which are to be filed with state regulators in October, are not finished yet.

Dunlap said the nonprofit medical provider wanted to announce its plans about a year from now, but had to accelerate them because of Trident's competing proposal in nearby Moncks Corner.

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control will consider the merits of both Berkeley County health-care projects and decide if and when each can move forward. The state regulates major investments in medical services to ensure that the nearby population can support them.

Trident's proposed Moncks Corner hospital would be built near existing neighborhoods and next to its existing diagnostics center on Live Oak Drive. The Roper property is near several large tracts of former forestland that are expected to be developed into thousands of home sites.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.