Summerville Medical Center opening new pediatric ER

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Summerville Medical Center will open its new $24 million pediatric emergency expansion Monday.

Trident Medical's Summerville location is expanding its pediatric emergency room with more than 13,000 square feet of new building space.

There is a new 10-bed pediatric emergency department that will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The hospital’s Pediatric ER Medical Director, Dr. Douglas Holtzman, says the old ER only had six rooms, and they outgrew it.

“We are thrilled to expand our pediatric ER to meet the needs of our growing community,” Holtzman said.

There are new ER registration areas and entrances, and separate waiting rooms for pediatrics. There is also new VIP parking for new and expecting mothers.

Summerville Medical will also be adding a new sensory room in the pediatric ER for children with sensory needs. It will have adjustable lights and special sound and touch equipment.

Holtzman says this is one of the areas that he is most excited about in this new ER.

"We have a lot of patients that are on the spectrum and have a lot of special needs. Sort of both, any sort of sensory, stimulus, whether it's visual, whether its touch, whether it's taste kind of thing," Holtzman said. "So, we've designed a room specifically, that I've never seen before."

Holtzman says Summerville Medical has been planning for this expansion for a year and a half now. They say this expansion will help in shortening travel time for more patients in the area during emergencies.

Holtzman says Monday's opening is on target and they have not experienced delays because of COVID-19.

"In fact this has progressed rather on target. So and yeah with COVID-19, we're still, it's safe you know, we've put out promos that said kids still do kids things, especially now that it's warm weather and we're prepared for that," Holtzman said.

Summerville Medical is hosting a virtual ribbon cutting Monday at 10 a.m. on the Summerville Medical Center Facebook page.

Summerville Medical Center is located at 295 Midland Parkway.

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