Palmetto Health Breaks Ground on Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge

COLUMBIA, S. C. — Palmetto Health has broken ground on its $99-million hospital, Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge. The hospital will be situated on approximately 70 acres of property in one of the most-rapidly growing areas of northwest Columbia in South Carolina.

Designed by HKS Architects, Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge, a 76-bed full-service community hospital with 24/7 emergency care, will serve the residents of Irmo, Harbison, Chapin, Dutch Fork and surrounding areas who currently are traveling downtown for acute care services. It is slated to open in December 2013.

The hospital will provide high-quality, state-of-the-art inpatient, medical, surgical and emergency care near residential and commercial neighbors, along with greater access to a full complement of primary care physicians and specialists. The facility will include emergency services, invasive and non-invasive surgery, intensive care and women’s center/labor and delivery.

“The facility is master-planned to expand to 300 beds,” said Greg Luongo, vice president and senior designer with HKS, Inc. “The result will be a comprehensive healthcare campus environment that will link to future specialty healthcare centers as well as commercial and retail development.

The hospital will offer medical care close to home, school and work including:

• Inpatient units
• Intensive care unit
• Labor and delivery unit and a newborn nursery
• Six operating rooms
• Diagnostic and treatment services including laboratory, imaging and pharmacy

“At its core, the design of the new Parkridge facility is tied to the unique physical and experiential character of its location and is shaped by the system and cultures that will enable it to be  a full-range facility,” said Luongo. “This includes a symbolic weaving together of the Baptist and Richland families into a new and even stronger culture at the Parkridge site.  It is through this interrelationship that we best represent the mission of Palmetto Health.”

As part of the construction, there also will be the relocation of Parkridge Drive from its present setting, which bisects Palmetto Health’s acreage, to a location on the east side of the property, adjacent to that owned by Riverland Hills Baptist Church. The new position will allow more appropriate vehicular entrances and exits from the healthcare campus and better development of the site for future needs. Road construction already has begun.