MUSC Health comes to Lake City/Williamsburg

MUSC Health is building a new hospital in northern Williamsburg County, bringing a vast new network of health care resources and capabilities to a largely rural section of South Carolina’s Pee Dee region.

The 63,500-square-foot hospital will replace the two medical facilities that now serve the area, Lake City Community Hospital, built in the 1950s, and Williamsburg Regional Hospital, built in 1965. The latter was severely damaged during the 1,000-year flood in 2015 and now operates in an emergency modular facility.

Leaders in both communities had explored updating these hospitals but decided to consolidate their efforts and partner with MUSC Health to build a single, modern medical center that would serve the entire region.

The new hospital is being built on a 40-acre tract of donated land on Highway 52, about four miles south of Lake City. When it opens in 2023, residents will have access to a full range of modern diagnostic and interventional capabilities, including:

• 25 inpatient beds.
• 5 observation beds.
• 2 operating rooms.
• 24/7 emergency care, with 16 treatment areas.
• Advanced imaging capabilities.
• Laboratory, respiratory, pharmacy and other ancillary services.

The hospital will be fully integrated with the MUSC Health system, with shared medical records and robust telemedicine capabilities that will provide patients there with access to services and specialists throughout the entire statewide system.

The project is expected to cost $45 million. Of this amount, the Medical University is seeking to raise at least $5 million in private donations.

MUSC President David J. Cole, M.D., FACS, said the project reflects the university’s core commitment to bring the best care and most advanced treatment options to people in all parts of South Carolina – urban, rural and everywhere in between.

“As our MUSC Board of Trustees saw when they approved this project, this new facility is more than bricks and mortar – it symbolizes the future of health care in our state,” said Cole.

He also acknowledged the importance of private support, pointing out that the project would likely not have been feasible without the initial donation of land provided by the Heath family.

“In addition to (the Board of Trustees’) vision, the Heath family made a generous donation of the land for this new, state-of-the-art facility that will welcome the Williamsburg Regional and Lake City Community Hospitals to the MUSC family. We are grateful for their dedication to the health and wellness of the community – it will have an impact for generations to come.”

In addition to the hospital in Williamsburg, MUSC Health is also building a freestanding emergency department to serve the Sea Islands and a new hospital at Nexton to serve Berkeley County. Both projects are part of MUSC’s ongoing efforts to better serve its mission and make specialty care accessible to all citizens of South Carolina.