Opinion: How Novant Health is preparing for the upcoming population boom
By the end of this decade, the state projects more than 33,000 additional people could call New Hanover County home. Brunswick County is forecast to grow even faster, adding more than 52,000 residents, and Pender County to add more than 14,000. That’s 100,000 people in 10 years in three communities in southeastern North Carolina – not counting the expanded tourism we could see in line with that significant growth.
Novant Health’s mission is to improve the health of our communities, one person at a time. What does that look like in our growing coastal area? When we are making decisions on expansion projects to serve the area, we must consider not only our current population, but our future residents and their needs.
A good example of that planning in action is the future Scotts Hill Medical Center, planned for the growing U.S. 17 corridor linking Wilmington and coastal Pender County. The state granted us permission to build the hospital in April 2021.
Since that time, we have been carefully evaluating the plans and considering what services we can grow and bring to this campus, which will include a new medical office building. Growing outpatient care options will include creating a new hub for Novant Health Cancer Institute to save residents travel time when they need cancer treatment, including radiation therapy.
Carefully and strategically planning a major campus like this allows us to ensure we are planning for the future – not just the needs of today. No one wants to open any needed community service project – a highway, a school or a hospital – that is over capacity by the time construction is complete.
So as part of our careful consideration, we continue to explore growing the size of Scotts Hill.
While this is our largest pending local project, we recently celebrated the completion of another significant project for our region – the 108-bed Novant Health Neurosciences Institute. This significant investment allows patients to receive the latest in comprehensive stroke, brain, spine and neurological care.
Meanwhile, we continue to keep an eye on growth and the future with these projects:
Surgery center (Brunswick County)
Our planned outpatient surgery center will have two operating rooms and two procedure rooms. This center will be located off U.S. 17 in Leland and will offer much-needed space for surgeries and procedures while being closer to home for Brunswick County residents. This project is currently in the design phase.
Medical office building (Brunswick County)
This spring, we will open our newest medical office building on the campus of Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center. This two-story building will allow us to expand access to heart and vascular care, family medicine, urology, surgical care and an infusion center, while creating more space in our current building to expand OB-GYN services.
Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinics (Wilmington)
Site work is now underway at Greenfield Street, the site of the first of two Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinics in Wilmington. Our second clinic will be at the corner of Princess Place Drive and North 30th Street, and design work is in progress for that facility. These clinics will help improve access to health care and be transformative for the neighborhoods they serve.
Our coastal region leadership team meets regularly to plan for the future, and that includes assessing all building and equipment investments our region will need. In these turbulent times for health care across the country, we are fortunate to be part of a larger not-for-profit health system that prioritizes investments in the communities it serves.
By 2030, we will have tens of thousands of new neighbors. And we will also have opened new health care facilities across the region to help care for them – and for you.
Shelbourn Stevens is president of Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center and the Novant Health Coastal Region. He has lived in Southeastern North Carolina since 2006.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Novant Health is preparing for the upcoming population boom
