Trident Medical Center applies for 2 certificates of need

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Trident Medical Center has filed two certificates of need with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control for new health care facilities in North Charleston and on James Island.

The North Charleston facility would be a free-standing behavioral health facility offering inpatient and outpatient services near the existing Trident Medical Center campus.

The hospital currently has a 17-bed inpatient behavioral health facility, Lowcountry Transitions, inside Trident Medical Center, but Trident Health CEO Todd Gallati said in a news release there’s a need for more.

“As soon as one patient is discharged, we usually have another behavioral health patient ready to be admitted,” he said.

The new 43-bed facility is expected to cost $35 million and take 2 1/2 years to complete if approved by DHEC.

Trident Medical Center also applied for a certificate of need to build a free-standing emergency department on James Island. The facility, to be named James Island Emergency, will be located at 945 Folly Road if approved.

“In a medical emergency, minutes can mean the difference between life and death,” said Dr. Preston Wendell, Trident Health’s medical director of emergency, in a news release. “By expanding to James Island, we are bringing emergency care closer to families.”

Construction of the $12.5 million James Island facility is scheduled to begin in July 2019, pending DHEC approval, and finish in March 2020.

Trident Health currently has three medical centers in North Charleston, Summerville and Moncks Corner, and a free-standing emergency department in North Charleston.