COASTAL OBSERVER

A freestanding emergency room is a step closer to being built at the corner of Bypass 17 and Wesley Road.

Grand Strand Regional Medical Center wants to build a one-story, 11,000-square-foot facility on the 2.99-acre property, which is a “planned development” zoning district. “Medical facility” is not one of the uses allowed in that district.

The Georgetown County Planning Commission approved an amendment to the planned development last month. 

Its impact will depend on whether the facility offers trauma care, said Brandon Ellis, the county’s director of Emergency Services.

“Any level of trauma designation would be beneficial,” he said.

Grand Strand said details will be forthcoming.

“Grand Strand Health is excited about bringing emergency care closer to our friends and neighbors in Murrells Inlet,” Caroline Preusser, Grand Strand’s director of communications and community engagement, said in an email. “We look forward to announcing specific plans in the future.”

There is no trauma care available in Georgetown County, Ellis said. Patients are transported to Grand Strand or Conway hospitals.

“It takes resources out of the county for an extended period of time,” he said.

Adam Crunk, the engineer for the project, told the Planning Commission there would be about 12 employees working each day, with 20 to 40 patients visiting as well. 

Grand Strand already has freestanding emergency rooms in Socastee, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach and Carolina Forest.

Although the facility would be open 24 hours a day, Crunk said no patients would stay overnight.

Crunk expects there would be about four ambulance visits a day, mostly to transport patients to a hospital.

Commission member David Roper was concerned that transporting patients would tie up ambulances from Midway Fire and Rescue and Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire.

Midway Chief Brent McClellan had not heard of the plans. He said he’s not sure how, or if, the facility would affect his department because he doesn’t know what services will be offered there.

“It would be really hard for me to know what it’s going to do to us,” he added.

It is possible Midway ambulances would transport non-trauma patients to the facility instead of Waccamaw Hospital, or possibly patients who need immediate advanced care.

“If it’s cardiac arrest you would want to go to the nearest facility,” McClellan said.

Roper was also concerned about whether Grand Strand would provide security or rely on the sheriff’s department.

Crunk said he was pretty sure Grand Strand has its own security.

The property is designated as commercial on the future land use map and does not sit in a regulated flood zone.

The building and signage will have to meet the design standards of the county’s overlay zone along Highway 17 on Waccamaw Neck. Access to the site will be from Wesley Road and Bypass 17. County staff said the proposal will not require a traffic study.

McClellan is not surprised by the proposal.

“That’s a big business right now,” he said. “All these places are doing these freestanding ERs.”

Roper made the motion to approve the change to the planned development zoning.

“We sure got enough people to probably fill it up,” he said.

The vote was unanimous. The change now requires three readings from County Council.