Construction on Columbia County’s first-ever hospital is slightly ahead of schedule, despite some problems in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
The ground was broken for the hospital, being built on the Gateway to Grovetown, exit 190 off Interstate 20, in April of this year. Construction crews “topped out” the hospital, that is they reached the top of the structure, in June. Construction includes a separate building providing space for medical offices beside the main hospital. It was topped off in July.
“So, since the summer, we’ve really been working on putting the facade and the sheathing onto the buildings, which is where the masonry and glazing and stuff will go so then beginning framing on interior walls,” Jennifer Miller, VP of Strategic Planning and Business Development for Wellstar MCG Health, told ABD. “So, as of the last two to three weeks, we were 551 days into the construction, and we had 503 days remaining. So, we’re a little over 50% complete with the construction.”
It is now possible to see the project from both the interstate and Gateway Boulevard. A location, Miller said, was chosen specifically.
“We did a lot of studies when we were doing the architectural design in the placement of the building, so that we could get the most optimum views from I-20 and from Gateway Boulevard, really just using the site because it was a there was a lot of elevation on the site,” she said. “So, we placed the building there for that purpose, so that you really get good visibility.”
For the most part, weather has been a factor in keeping the project on and now a bit ahead of schedule. The metro Augusta’s summer with relatively few serious rain events, helped speed the progress.
Then came Hurricane Helene at the end of September. Fortunately, Miller said the damage was minimal.
“No structural damage, per se,” she said. “We did have quite a bit of trees down, similar to what we’re seeing widespread across Augusta. We had a slight schedule delay, we didn’t have power, similar to the rest of Augusta. We had the structure, and everything checked out, and all of that was good, just a minor esthetic damage.”
The desire to build a hospital in Columbia County dates back to 2012 when an exploratory committee was formed and released RFPs (Requests for Proposals) the following year. In 2014, then known as Georgia Regents Medical Center (GRMC), a request for a Certificate of Need (CON) was submitted to the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH).
University Hospital, now Piedmont Augusta, and Doctors Hospital also filed CONs asking to build a hospital.
When GRMC’s proposal was selected, the University and Doctors appealed the decision, triggering a lengthy court battle. University dropped its appeal, but Doctors Hospital continued until, in 2021, the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear the case, effectively upholding DCH’s initial ruling.
The 250,000-square-foot hospital plans to have an emergency department as a level two trauma center, a surgical wing including operating rooms, catheter labs, interventional radiology, and imaging labs. There will be 100 adaptable patient beds.
“We learned as a health care system, you’ve got to plan for flexibility, because you don’t know what you don’t know and what could come in the future,” Miller said. “So, we have designed and are constructing this building for all acuity adaptable rooms, meaning they’re all sized at a larger capacity, at an ICU capability. So, if we had another pandemic coming and we needed to increase our Intensive Care Unit bed count or bed census, we will be better equipped to flexing, to be able to accommodate the more acute patients in our community.”
The medical office building next door will be 90,000 square feet. It will provide space for primary care, women’s health, and other specialties. The campus will also have a helipad to receive or transport critical patients by air to appropriate facilities as quickly as possible.
The hospital’s location on the western side of Columbia County will also address other needs. It will take some of the pressure on the downtown hospital and emergency room by providing medical care for people in McDuffie County and others on that side of the C.S.R.A. It will also create immediately available emergency care for individuals injured and involved in accidents at Clarks Hill Lake.
“Our Columbia County community and the surrounding communities, really need that with all the growth that we’ve seen in our community, in our area. This will be poised to help serve those additional community members that are moving into town and the ones that are still projected to come.”
Miller said they are working on their staffing plan and clinical workforce plan. Once finalized, the positions will be posted, and applications accepted. The hospital is scheduled to open in 2026.
