‘This is a great thing’: McLeod Health building 48-bed hospital in Carolina Forest to meet growing need

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - A new hospital is coming to the Carolina Forest area as more and more people make that area of the Grand Strand their home.

McLeod Health announced this week that it will break ground on the new hospital after receiving a certification of need from the state.

The healthcare provider has been in Carolina Forest for the past seven years with a number of outpatient services, but now they’ll make it easier for patients to receive care all in one location.

The CEO of McLeod Health in Carolina Forest and Loris, Scott Montgomery, said the necessity for a hospital facility in the area was emphasized to them.

“The state health plan came out a few years later after we started this campus and said there was a need for beds and we thought we were an option to do that,” said Montgomery.

Neighbors in the area, such as Janet Faircloth, go to McLeod for their healthcare needs and said it would be easier having everything they could need in one place.

“I have several different doctors,” Faircloth said. “I have a heart doctor, I have a pacemaker, so I wanna know that everything’s connected so that if I do go somewhere they have all my records, and they know what’s going on.”

Montgomery said a patient in the emergency room who needs to be transferred to a hospital would be able to stay right on campus because right now that’s not the case.

“Patients go to our Seacoast campus most of the time whenever they have to receive care,” said Montgomery. “Now patients who need to be admitted through our emergency department will be able to receive that care locally right here in the community.”

Along with helping more people, the new hospital will also mean hundreds of new jobs for nurses, doctors, therapists and other healthcare professionals.

“The typical 48-bed hospital is gonna be somewhere in the 200 to 300 person range depending on capacity and type of services we’re offering,” Montgomery explained.

Faircloth said she thinks having the hospital in Carolina Forest will make a real difference in healthcare accessibility as the area continues to grow.

“Oh I think everybody’s excited about it because I don’t think there are enough medical facilities for the influx of people that are coming into the area, so I think it’s a great thing,” Faircloth said.

McLeod is waiting on the proper permits.

Montgomery said construction will take about 24 months from when they break ground this fall. A date has not been set yet.

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