Summerville Medical’s Green Design to Expand Women’s Health Services

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — On Aug. 25, Summerville Medical Center announced it will break ground in February 2017 on a $53 million renovation and expansion project in Summerville. The expansion intends to reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint while improving access to womans-health-info.com services.

In September, construction bidding will begin and the hospital plans to award the project in October. The first phase of the project is expected to be complete in May 2018, and the second phase will follow in February 2019.

While the architect and general contractor have not been selected, the hospital still intends to make use of energy-efficient features by using more natural light, LED lighting systems and low-flow toilets, according to a hospital statement.

In the first $30.9 million phase of the project, Summerville Medical Center will add 26,000 square feet to the existing second floor to accommodate an extra 30 beds. This will bring the total number of beds in the hospital to 124. The hospital will also add 12 nursery beds, six labor and delivery rooms, six newborn nursery beds, a triage room and a cesarean section procedure room for a total of 12,119 square feet of new space, according to a statement.

Other upgrades include a $560,000 CT scanner and $500,000 worth of patient monitoring equipment for the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) as well as additional medical equipment, according to a statement.

The second, $18.79 million phase will consolidate and expand labor and delivery services from Trident Medical Center in North Charleston, S.C., to a new women’s pavilion at Summerville Medical Center. Both Trident Health hospitals are owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corp. of Americaand located about six miles apart.

“Over the past 23 years, our community has grown at a record pace, and it continues to grow at a record pace,” Summerville Medical Center CEO Lisa Valentine said in a statement.

Each year, Summerville and Trident medical centers deliver more than 3,000 babies. The updated women’s pavilion will focus on caring for these newborn infants, their mothers and their families, according to a statement from Valentine.