Spartanburg Regional

Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System
Geography
Location	34°58′04″N 81°56′25″W / 34.96785°N 81.94034°W / 34.96785; -81.94034Coordinates: 34°58′04″N 81°56′25″W / 34.96785°N 81.94034°W / 34.96785; -81.94034, Spartanburg, South Carolina,  United States
Organisation
Care system	Public
Hospital type	Not-for-profit
Affiliated university	Medical University of South Carolina Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM)
Services
Standards	Joint Commission
Emergency department	I
Beds	588 licensed beds
History
Founded	1921
Links
Website	http://www.spartanburgregional.com

Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System is one of South Carolina’s largest healthcare systems, serving 11 counties including Spartanburg, Greenville, Cherokee, Laurens, Newberry and Union counties in South Carolina, and Rutherford county in North Carolina. It is an integrated healthcare delivery system which provides healthcare from birth to hospice. The Spartanburg Regional Health Services District, Inc. is a self-funded, political subdivision of the state of South Carolina and does not receive tax dollars from the community.

SRHS Overview

SRHS is composed of Spartanburg Medical Center, Pelham Medical Center, Spartanburg Hospital for Restorative Care, Union Medical Center, Medical Group of the Carolinas, Ellen Sagar Nursing Center and Regional HealthPlus. Through its many branches, SRHS offers a range of services and programs including: • Bearden-Josey Center for Breast Health • Chest Pain Center • Comprehensive Pain Center • Congregational Nursing • Corporate Health • Emergency Center (Level I Trauma Center) • Emergency Medical Services (EMS) • Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute • Heart Center • Heart Wellness Program • Home Health • Hospice (Hospice Home) • Imaging and Laboratory Services • Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Level III) • Neurology • Orthopaedic Services • Palliative Care Services • Pediatrics and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit • Rehabilitation Services • Robotic Surgery • Sleep Services • Stroke Center • Surgery (including minimally invasive) • Urology • Weight Loss Services • Women’s Health • Wound Healing Center

Spartanburg Medical Center (SMC) ^[1]

SMC, the flagship hospital of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, is a research and teaching hospital with more than 500 physicians on staff, which performs more than 12,000 surgical procedures annually.

Spartanburg Medical Center includes the Heart Center, Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute, the Center for Women, Weight Loss Services, Rehabilitation Services, Sleep Center and the Outpatient Center. With more than 95000 visits annually, the Emergency Center is one of the busiest Level I Trauma Centers in the Southeast.

Spartanburg Medical Center was the first hospital in the state and the U.S. to develop a comprehensive Hospital Emergency Response Team (HERT). HERT was developed after Spartanburg Regional mobilized personnel to assist in the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) operations during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The team is a working body of clinical and non-clinical volunteers who support healthcare operations in order to maintain healthcare infrastructure during periods of catastrophic need.

Spartanburg Medical Center was the first hospital in the Upstate to earn Center of Excellence status for its gastric bypass surgery program and is also the site of South Carolina’s first Joint Commission-accredited Chest Pain and Primary Stroke centers.

Outpatient diagnostic services are located on campus in the Regional Outpatient Center and Bearden Josey Center for Breast Health and throughout the community at: • Regional Outpatient Services of North Grove • Pelham Medical Center (formerly Village Hospital) • Pelham Medical Center Medical Office Building – Imaging Services • Bearden-Josey Center for Breast Health (mammography only) • Bearden-Josey Center for Breast Health – Woman’s Clinic (mammography only) • Bearden-Josey Center for Breast Health at Spartanburg-Pelham OB-GYN (mammography only) • Bearden-Josey Center for Breast Health – Westside (mammography only) • Outpatient surgery is offered through the Ambulatory Surgery Center of Spartanburg and the Surgery Center at Pelham.

Spartanburg Hospital for Restorative Care (SHRC)

SHRC is a licensed freestanding 97-bed, long term acute-care hospital (LTACH) and a licensed 25-bed skilled nursing facility. For more than a decade, SHRC has helped people suffering from disabling medical problems regain their independence by providing LTACH services focused on patients with serious medical problems that require special treatment, such as wound care and lung conditions, and skilled-nursing care services designed to help patients who are in the hospital but need skilled care before being discharged home.

Pelham Medical Center ^[2]

Pelham Medical Center (PMC), formerly known as Village Hospital, was created to bring a new approach to health care. Offering emergency services and medical and surgical care, PMC is located at Westmoreland Road and Highway 14 in Greer. PMC consists of 48 inpatient rooms, including four intensive care rooms and areas with telemetry for monitoring cardiac patients. The facility also has four operating suites and an emergency department with 12 rooms. The PMC complex includes Pelham Medical Center Medical Office Building, the Surgery Center at Pelham and the Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute - Pelham. Village at Pelham was renamed as Pelham Medical Center in March 2014 and remains a division of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.

Medical Group of the Carolinas (MGC) ^[3]

Medical Group of the Carolinas (MGC) is a group of more than 330 physicians in more than 22 specialties and primary care, serving the Upstate and Western North Carolina. Previously named the Spartanburg Regional Physician Group, MGC offers five OB/GYN practices at nine locations for women’s health. MGC also offers two pediatric practices, and 16 family medicine and internal medicine practices throughout the Carolinas. MGC has locations throughout the region including Spartanburg, Greer, Chesnee, Boiling Springs and Duncan. Twenty-four of the practices have been recognized as Physician Practice Connections-Patient Centered Medical Homes.

Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute ^[4]

In the early 1980s Jay Bearden, MD, and Julian Josey, MD, advocated to consolidate all existing cancer treatment and support services into a single-floor unit, a coordinated-services approach.

Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute opened in 1999 and now has treatment locations as part of the Spartanburg Medical Center, Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute – Gaffney, and Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute – Pelham.

Spartanburg Regional Foundation ^[5]

The Spartanburg Regional Foundation is a charitable corporation whose primary mission is to benefit the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System through direct support and support of community programs and services. The Spartanburg Regional's mission of providing quality health care to our community.

Regional HealthPlus (RHP) ^[6]

Regional HealthPlus (RHP) is a network of physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers working in partnership with healthcare payers, including managed care companies, third-party administrators and self-insured employers, to deliver patient focused, coordinated care.

Many of the facilities and service providers of SRHS are a part of Regional HealthPlus, including: • Spartanburg Medical Center • Regional Rehabilitation Services (multiple locations) • Regional Rehabilitation Services – Pelham • Cardiac Rehabilitation Services • Heart Wellness Program • Sleep Center • Regional Outpatient Center • Regional Outpatient Services – North Grove • Heart Failure Center • Pelham Medical Center • Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute • Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute – Pelham • Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute - Gaffney • Bearden-Josey Center for Breast Health • Regional Wound Healing Center • That Special Look • Spartanburg Regional Home Health • Spartanburg Regional Hospice • Spartanburg Regional Hospice Home • Spartanburg Hospital for Restorative Care • Ambulatory Surgery Center of Spartanburg, LLC • Surgery Center at Pelham • Comprehensive Pain Center • Spartanburg Urology Surgicenter • Westside Ambulatory Surgery Center

Union Medical Center

Since 1921, Wallace Thomson Hospital dedicated itself to serving the needs of Union County. In 2015 Wallace Thomson Hospital became Union Medical Center, a division of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System (SRHS). Union Medical Center (UMC), patients enjoy the benefits of an integrated healthcare delivery system, which includes coordinated care of medical services, access to a multi-specialty physician group, increased efficiencies and access to the most advanced technologies. UMC is a 50-bed hospital located in Union, SC. Its mission is to provide quality health care to the residents of Union County. UMC offers emergency, outpatient, laboratory, radiology, and pharmacy services. Other services are available through Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.

Ellen Sagar Nursing Center

Ellen Sagar Nursing Center, a division of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, is a 113-bed long-term care, skilled nursing facility that offers nursing care and rehabilitation services. Ellen Sagar’s full-time staff works with residents and families to help residents adjust to living in a new environment, including providing emotional care. Rehabilitation services include speech therapy for conditions such as swallowing deficits and communication difficulties; occupational therapy to help patients regain their strength and re-learn many actives of daily life such as grooming; and physical therapy, including range of motion to pain management.

HISTORY^[7]

The Beginning: 1917 – 1939

The South Carolina Legislature passed an act on Feb. 17, 1917, “to enable Spartanburg County to establish and maintain a public hospital, to levy taxes, and to borrow money therefore, upon an election in such county in favor therefore.” The bill outlined the provisions the new hospital would be operated, the duties of the trustees, and the work of the hospital. County citizens voted in favor of the proposal on Oct. 9, 1917.

On Aug. 29, 1921, Spartanburg General Hospital (SGH), greeted motorists, horse-drawn buggies and wagons, and passengers on the trolley to North Church Street, which curved away in both directions from the tall, pillared entrance. It was set well back on Chinquapin Hill with the stretch of Plyman’s pasture on one side, the gingerbread of the Cleveland house off to the left, and Chinquapin Creek rolling at the foot of the hill.

The Spartanburg Herald of Aug. 30, 1921, said, “Dr. H.R. Black claimed the honor of sending in the first patient, Mr. William G. Hyatt, and also of having performed the first operation. The operation was on Paul Black, son of H.R. Black, MD. The patient was suffering from an infection in the right arm.”

Construction of a nurses’ residence was started in 1923, and in 1924 a medical laboratory was established. In 1926, Spartanburg General Hospital employed its first registered dietician to take over the responsibility of planning patient diets. Before this time, it had fallen to the nursing staff to do so. By the height of 1927, the grounds of the hospital were used for farming.

“[There was] a small truck farm and some cotton was raised,” according to memorandums of the day. The money earned was used to build a small greenhouse for growing flowers and vegetables. An electric refrigerating system was installed during the summer of 1928, reducing the ice bill and eliminating the waste from spoiled eggs, milk and produce.

The stock market crash of Oct. 29, 1929, marked the end of post-World War I prosperity. More than 700 hospitals across the country closed between 1928 and 1938. Spartanburg General Hospital remained open. People worked out their hospital costs or the hospital expenses of a family member in creative ways. The Dietary Department cooperated with the Business Office, for instance, so farmers who had farm produce but little cash brought chickens, fruit, and vegetables as payment on accounts. When these products were not used immediately, they were canned and preserved for later use. Flour and sugar sacks were turned into aprons and towels. During this period, all the soap used in the hospital was made in the Dietary Department.

In 1933, W.C. Guy, the hospital electrician, helped improvise an electrically-heated incubator. Prior to this, hot sand or hot bricks were used to provide heat for the babies. The hospital assigned two nurses to a room in where newborns were isolated. This was the beginning of a premature baby nursery at Spartanburg General Hospital.

In 1934, the first local cancer clinic was opened as a project of Spartanburg General Hospital. This clinic is one of the oldest American College of Surgeons (ACOS) Commission on Cancer approved cancer programs in the nation. The Spartanburg Clinic joined the statewide Cancer Clinic Program that was formed when other clinics were opened in 1939. John Fleming, MD, is credited with establishing the first cancer clinic. The average daily census in 1926 had been 54 patients; by 1938, this number had increased to an average 198 patients daily. This increase led to further plans of growth and expansion.

The Mid-Twentieth Century: 1940s – 1960s

In the 1940s, a number of construction projects were undertaken to expand the hospital. The 1941 construction updates included a wing to the south of the nurses’ home for the graduate staff and an L-shaped wing constructed to the rear of the home. The modern teaching facilities included a new library, a classroom, laboratories and an office for the School of Nursing. In 1942, a wing added to the south end of the hospital contained 63 private rooms, a new surgical suite and a new kitchen. Included in this second step of the construction program were a new laundry and sewing room and a central heating plant. Voluntary contributions were made by local textile plants in furnishing the second and third floors; the first floor furnishing was donated by retail store Taylor-Colquitt Company. This construction allowed capacity to grow to 289 beds. From 1943 to 1946 during World War II, the SGH School of Nursing was affiliated with the Cadet Nurse Corps. The nurses in training had the privilege of transferring to an Army, Navy or veterans’ hospital during their last six months of training if their services were needed. During this time, at least 30 local physicians also left Spartanburg to serve in the war. Camp Croft was constructed in Spartanburg County for training and to provide such services.

The north wing was completed in 1950, adding patient rooms, a new Pediatric floor, a new laboratory and offices for administration, business and admittance. At this point, the facility on whole provided for 370 beds and 81 bassinets. A surgical recovery room, additional operating rooms, a new delivery suite, larger emergency room facilities, and new quarters for the x-ray department all became realities in the 1950s. The medical laboratory, laundry, purchasing department and parking facilities were also enlarged. Expansion of the Physical Therapy Department and the air conditioning of pediatrics were made possible by a grant from the Saluda Baby Hospital. Another influence on the hospital included the 1953 widening of North Church Street, which took 34 feet of property from the hospital.

A small project started in the Physical Therapy Department of the hospital in 1954 developed into the Charles Lea Center by 1971. Physical therapist Jane Helfrich began a school for three children with cerebral palsy in a converted storage room in the Physical Therapy Department.

In 1955, B.J. Workman Hospital opened its doors in Woodruff, funded in large part by donations of a day’s pay from the employees of area textile mills.

The 1960s continued the terrific growth of the hospital. In 1960, the School for Practical Nurses began operation and the “Gray Ladies” began their service of helping guide patients to their rooms from the admitting office. The Health Sciences Library was organized in 1961 with an annual budget of $580. Most books and journals were donated by physicians. By 1963, the psychiatric ward had opened and contained 21 beds. The same year, the hospital purchased a microfilming machine and all medical records were transferred to film. Additions in 1964 included the Inhalation Therapy Department and the Employee Credit Union, now Vital Credit Union (VCU).

As a tribute to the nursing staff, Nurses’ Recognition Day was initiated on April 20, 1965. Around this same time, a personnel department was established to maintain direction over the now more than 1,000 men and women who staffed the institution. Recognizing the connection to the community, the Volunteer Services Department was established in 1967.

Also during this period, the patient population was undergoing a change, because the hospital was approved for Medicare patients in July 1966. This brought a multitude of new rules and regulations, increased the need for trained staff and increased the need for bed capacity. At the same time, hospital-based nurse training programs were being phased out nationally in favor of college and university campus training. Spartanburg General was the impetus behind the formation of the Spartanburg campus of the University of South Carolina Spartanburg, which offered an associate degree program in nursing. A group of physicians, community leaders and university representatives met with Spartanburg County’s legislative delegation to create an act that would allow the hospital to enter into a contract with the university. In February 1967, hospital officials signed an agreement with the USC Board of Trustees to establish USC-Spartanburg, first housed on the basement level of Spartanburg General’s School of Nursing. In May 1967, more than 150 students entered the program. After 48 years, the final Nurse’s School class in 1969 brought the total number of graduates to 1,057.

Use of computer technology was started in 1968, and the hospital joined five other South Carolina hospitals in creating the South Carolina Hospital Data Center later that same year. Also in 1968, the west wing addition changed the hospital’s address to 101 East Wood Street, the current address of the Spartanburg Medical Center. New terminology and new functions were introduced with the creation of the Intensive and Coronary Care Units, cobalt therapy, cardiopulmonary laboratory, and electroencephalography. Increasing the number of beds required enlargement of auxiliary services. The medical laboratory was enlarged 50 percent on the basement floor, and the admitting and business offices were expanded in the sub-basement. New patient areas offered new services and comforts in either private or semi-private rooms with private bathrooms. There were bedside telephones and a nurse call system.

Other medical leaps during this period included the hospital’s first neurosurgeon in 1967, cobalt therapy in 1968, and the hospital’s new Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory with a physician as full-time director opening in 1969. Additional construction in 1968 yielded a new Newborn Nursery Suite. It contained a nursery for well babies, an observation area, and an Intensive Care Nursery. Equipment included monitors for heart rate and respiration of the newborn, an infant X-ray machine, and a transport isolette with its own battery power so that newborns could be transported safety between hospitals.

The Late-Twentieth Century: 1970s – 1990s

At the start of the 1970s, plans approved for a new eight-bed Constant Care Unit for patients requiring monitoring but no longer needing the highly skilled nursing service of the Intensive Care and Coronary Care Units. The Department of Medical Education was also established in 1970, making Spartanburg General the first hospital in South Carolina approved by the American Board of Family Practice for Family Practice residencies and only the fifth chartered Family Medicine program in the nation.

The chapel opened in 1971. A 1973, a $100,000 grant from the Duke Endowment enabled SRMC to establish the Clinical Pastoral Education Program to train hospital chaplains in the art of pastoral care and to provide 24-hour in-house pastoral service to the hospital.

In 1972, the cardiac catheterization room was completed. The equipment included a special high-powered X-ray generator, one of the most advanced in the country. This same year, Governor John C. West presided over the ground breaking ceremony for the $3.5 million ambulatory care, education, and administration building. The project was funded in 1970 by the Appalachia Fund and Spartanburg County. The building offered a modern outpatient service unit and an Emergency Department equal to the task of serving 40,000 patients a year. Outpatient services allowed family practice residents to care for their patients with an emphasis on avoiding hospitalization. The new facility offered complete outpatient services in X-Ray and medical laboratories and also included the physical therapy department, the medical records department, and the medical consortium between the hospital and the Medical University of South Carolina for the training of senior medical students.

Spartanburg County established a county ambulance service in 1973. The next year, a new Child Development Center for children of hospital employees opened; this center was one of the first of its kind in the nation. As another first, the General Hospital became one of the first hospitals to recruit nurses from out of the country in 1975, with 16 registered nurses from the Philippines joining the staff to help compensate for the nursing shortage.

The new Medical and Audiovisual Learning Resource Center opened in 1976. Also in 1976 improvements included the ultrasound equipment used in monitoring pregnancy and the start of the endoscopy department, with Mitchell Allen, MD, being the first gastroenterologist in Spartanburg. In 1977, a genetics clinic was founded and the hospital obtained a $550,000 EMI Scanner, the first body CT scanner in South Carolina.

Outpatient surgery became another invaluable service throughout the 1970s, as Spartanburg General became one of the first hospitals in the state to offer this surgery option. A total of 314 procedures were performed during the first year in the renovated former Emergency Department area. Consequently, ground breaking for a new surgical wing was approved by the Spartanburg County Council in 1977. The Duke Endowment provided a $225,000 grant in 1978, followed by a similar grant in 1979. The facility opened on June 9, 1980. In 1981, on the recommendation of the Surgery Department of the Hospital's Medical Staff and the members of the Spartanburg County Medical Society, the Board of Trustees named the $7.5 million addition the Charles C. Boone Surgery Wing.

A shift in direction for Spartanburg General Hospital occurred in the 1980s, as it moved from a community institution to a regional referral hospital. Spartanburg General Hospital became the central referral center for five counties in northwestern South Carolina and southwestern North Carolina. One such example of this is that as of the 1980s, Spartanburg Regional’s Emergency Department was rated a Level I Trauma Center.

In 1980, the hospital contracted with the Spartanburg County Health Department to provide home health coordinators. The first open-heart surgery was performed in 1981. During the same year, Spartanburg General’s Pharmacy Residency Program was first-accredited by the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists and allowed post-graduates a year-long experience in different specialties to prepare them for supervisory positions in other hospital pharmacies.

By 1982, the new psychiatry unit and the Emory B. Brock Radiation Oncology Treatment Center opened; a new 17-bed Intensive Care Unit also opened in a portion of the renovated old surgery suite located on the sixth floor. Each of the patient rooms had a ceiling-mounted power column containing all gases and utilities, and each of the rooms was built with glass doors to decrease noise levels and provide for isolation when needed. All rooms are private.

By 1983, a more advanced medical diagnostic X-ray imaging system, known as the CT 9800 Computed Tomography machine, enabled doctors to perform, in seconds, studies of the head and body tissues with unprecedented detail and accuracy. The Siemens Angioscope D X-ray unit with Tri-Focal Imaging, purchased by the hospital in 1983, was one of the first of its type in the Southeast.

Also in 1983, Spartanburg County asked the hospital to assume management of its Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Spartanburg County continues to provide funds for EMS while the hospital manages the system. A 1983 National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant of $150,000 enabled the hospital and its staff to participate in the National Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP).

Spartanburg General’s In-Patient Hospice Unit, the first in the two Carolinas, celebrated its open house in February 1984 on 4 Center. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) licensed a new home health service program in March 1984. By April 1985, a Pain Therapy Center opened in renovated facilities in the basement of the Price-Reid Office Building at the corner of Serpentine Drive and Catawba Street, the Cardiac Rehabilitation program was established to treat patients who had suffered a heart attack, had bypass surgery, valve replacements, angioplasty stents, and treatments for other heart conditions, and the hospital also opened a new Sleep Disorders Center to help identify and treat disorders which interfere with sleep. It is one of the oldest programs of its kind in the Southeast.

During the hospital’s celebration of its 65th birthday in 1986, the decision was made to change the institution’s name from Spartanburg General Hospital to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center (SRMC) in order to reflect the patient community and the many services provided outside the hospital’s walls. During this year, The Charlotte Observer newspaper reported that Spartanburg Regional Medical Center had the lowest mortality rates in the Carolinas for Medicare patients having coronary bypass operations. Administrator Charles C. Boone attributed Regional’s success – 1.1 percent at SRMC compared to 5.4 percent nationally – to the skill of the surgical team led by Joe R. Utley, MD. Expanding upon this in 1987, SRMC began construction of its new Heart Center. Bolstered by an $800,000 grant by The Duke Endowment, the $13.5 million, 95-bed Regional Heart Center opened in July 1988. It consisted of a five-story, 116,000-square foot dedicated patient and rehabilitative services unit housing all coronary and pulmonary care services under one roof. The Heart Center completion brought the total number of beds at SRMC to 588. The consolidation enabled SRHS to focus on efficiencies and reduce patients’ lengths of stay while never compromising care.

An innovation known as After Hours, another first for Spartanburg Regional, opened in 1987. An area in the Emergency Department was made available to physicians so they could see their private patients during hours when physicians’ offices were closed. This had followed the 1986 opening of the prompt care area, allowing for quicker response to patients with minor emergencies. The Ask-A-Nurse service, now known as Regional Nurse On Call, also began in 1987. In 1988, medical advancements including Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) were added.

In 1990, the Health Resource Center opened, providing seminars and community wellness programs, as well as the four-story Physicians’ Office Building facing the front entrance of the hospital, with overhead walkways connecting it to the hospital and to the Fowler parking deck. The building contained a pharmacy, radiology department and a laboratory. It also included a branch bank on the lower level to serve patients and hospital employees, and was occupied by surgeons, oncologists, and other practitioners from the first day it opened.

The Spartanburg Regional Medical Center Foundation was incorporated in 1991 as a not-for-profit 501(c) fund-raising organization with a specific mission to “stimulate and receive charitable gifts which benefit the programs and services of SRHS”. The same year, the hospital began operating the Transportation Services Bureau (TSB), the only hospital-based mass transit provider in the United States. In early 1992, SRMC moved a number of its non-medical offices away from the hospital’s main building into the Pinewood Resource Center (PRC). The 67,000 square-foot office building houses such departments as Accounting, Transportation, Information Services and Business Office. By March 5, 2002, the Transportation Department grew its PRC quarters and moved to 693 North Church Street. About one-third of the PRC was devoted to the hospital’s Child Development Center. The Safe Kids department, now known as Spartanburg Safe Kids, was founded in 1993.

In efforts to improve overall community health and continue to hold the line on costs, SRMC embarked in 1994 on a journey linking the hospital with primary care providers, known as the Regional Physicians Network. The eight-story Rose and Walter Montgomery Patient Tower was dedicated on Oct. 22, 1994. The 196,358-square-foot Tower was built for $33 million, along with a new energy plant. It maintained the licensed bed-size of the hospital at 588 beds. SRMC acquired new service areas in this year through the purchase of the building and equipment of Doctors’ Memorial Hospital on Serpentine Drive. Doctors’ Memorial had operated as an independent, privately owned hospital of 108 beds since 1973. It closed in July 1994 when its owner was unable to find a buyer or manager for the facility. SRMC purchased the building for $3.25 million, down from the original asking price of $15 million. Renamed the Spartanburg Hospital for Restorative Care (SHRC), the hospital became a long-term acute care hospital that provides rehabilitation, diagnostic and medical treatment to patients whose medical conditions warrant an average hospital stay of more than 25 days. SHRC serves acutely ill patients who need care longer than is provided in a traditional hospital setting and bridges the gap between short-term hospitalization and a patient’s return home with therapy that maximizes the patient’s potential to recover.

As patient areas moved into the Tower, space vacated in the original 1921 structure and was renovated for offices that moved from the 1923 Nurses’ Residence. The Residence was razed in 1995, and its bricks were sold as mementoes. Also in 1995, the Network Geriatric Services began providing care, the hospital’s first official Web site went online, and Regional HealthPlus was formed. Regional HealthPlus (RHP) is a Physician/Hospital Organization (PHO) that contracts with managed care entities such as employers, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), insurance companies, and Third Party Administrators (TPAs) to provide health care services to covered members.

In addition to creating a regional network of physician offices, SRMC also consolidated its women’s services areas at the hospital by opening the Regional Center for Women in 1996. The grand opening of the Regional Outpatient Center (ROC) was held the same year. Built on the grounds of the 1923 Nurses’ Residence, this 200,000 square foot, $35 million project effectively consolidated all outpatient functions of the System. The dramatic marble-tiled atrium stretches seven stories high. Other 1996 growth achievements were the creation of the Regional Maternal-Fetal Medicine Practice and the introduction of email to SRHS employees.

The late 1990s were incredibly prosperous and busy for SRHS. In 1997, the Stem Cell Transplant Program began providing access to transplant services for Upstate cancer patients, the SRHS Congregational Nursing Program began, the Healing Arts program was established and the Rx Robot was implemented, making Spartanburg Regional the first hospital in the state to use one. This robot improves patient care by minimizing medication errors and ensuring that expired medications are disposed of immediately. Spartanburg Regional partnered with BMW Manufacturing in 1997 in order to provide occupational medicine services. Occupational medicine physicians see approximately 25 to 35 patients a day in the Industrial Health Services facility at BMW for physical exams, work-related injuries and illnesses and physical therapy.

The Regional Wound Healing Center opened as the area’s first wound healing center in 1998; the same year the Spartanburg Hospital for Restorative Care opened a fascinating therapy area for its patients called Independence Square. Independence Square is a rehabilitation area for patients working to regain independent living skills after recovering from difficulties such as head or spinal cord injuries, strokes, pulmonary disease and amputations. What makes this area fascinating is the inclusion of a grocery store, household rooms and other environments people will encounter frequently. The Regional Center for Rehabilitation also opened in 1998 in the former Christian Supply warehouse at 299 East Pearl Street. At that time, this building housed Sports Medicine, Cardiac Rehabilitation, and Rehabilitation Services. On July 5, 2002, Regional Rehab and Sports Medicine moved to new quarters at 631 North Church St., allowing these two departments and Cardiac Rehab room to grow.

The Duke Endowment awarded Spartanburg Regional a three-year, $250,000 grant beginning in 1998 to begin a Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Program. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) moved to the second floor, now to be mere steps away from the obstetrics surgical suite. The NICU is classified as a Level III NICU and is one of only six Level III NICUs in the state, the only one in a five-county area, and the only one in Spartanburg. The Sage Center for Senior Health, part of Regional Senior Health, opened in September 1998 at 322 North Pine Street as an outpatient physician practice dedicated to the care of senior adults.

A chapter in Spartanburg Regional’s history began in 1999 with the opening of the $14.7 million Marsha and Jimmy Gibbs Regional Cancer Center, including the area’s only radiation oncology center. While directors and physicians had been planning the facility for several years, its construction was accelerated by a generous $1.2 million challenge gift from the Gibbs family. This lead gift was the catalyst for community donations totaling more than $3 million, including $165,000 in donations from employees. The Gibbs Regional Cancer Center was one of the first cancer centers to have all cancer services under one roof.

The Twenty-first Century: 2000 – Present Day

SRHS continued its regional expansion and community outreach. In 2000, the inpatient oncology and hospice units opened with 30 oncology and hospice rooms in the cancer center and five radiation therapy graduates joined radiation oncology for their clinical rotations, the only such school in the state of South Carolina.

Also in 2001, Spartanburg Regional installed the latest scanning technology. Spartanburg Regional was the first hospital in the country to use a computerized supply management system. The product, called SupplyScan, allows all medical and surgical supplies to be stored on the nursing units in barcoded bins. At the same time, SRHS reinstituted the full-time inpatient hospitalist service, a program that had been in place for the 1998-1999 year. Also in 2001, the Family Medicine Program began the state’s only Family Medicine OB Fellowship.

The Regional Surgery Center relocated its seven operating suites out of the SHRC to become a freestanding Ambulatory Surgery Center on the site of the former Beaumont Mills property on Pine Street in 2002. In 2003, SRHS began Regional Surgical Weight Loss Services, the most comprehensive in this region. The program includes surgery as well as pre-operative screenings, post-operative education classes, and a monthly support group.

Plans were announced in 2002 for the construction of a five-story pavilion adjacent to the Regional Heart Center. The first floor houses a 50,000 square foot, state-of-the-art Emergency Center (EC). The need for a new emergency department was identified as the number one priority by the community with widespread support. Floors two through five are each 40,000 square feet and accommodate future growth, including expanded surgery and intensive care units. The Emergency Center was designed specifically to address the complex emergency medicine issues that face the community it serves. The new Emergency Center (EC), finished in 2005, doubled in size of the previous facility, which at 20,000 square feet, was designed to accommodate 40,000 visits per year. The current EC, now with 55 beds, a dedicated Fast Track area and a separate 4-pod Behavioral Health Unit sees approximately 95000 visits annually, making it one of the busiest ECs in the Carolinas. Additionally, the hospital's HERT team is capable of erecting a free-standing, collapsible, medical mobile unit in the event of high census or patient quarantine.

Regional One, a Bell 407 helicopter, began service on May 7, 2003, and provides transportation to trauma patients in Spartanburg, Cherokee, Laurens, Polk, Union and Rutherford counties 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Regional One is the first hospital-based air ambulance service in the Upstate. Also in 2003, the 28-bed Pediatric unit underwent a transformation designed to make children feel comfortable during their hospital stay.

It was announced in 2006 that SRHS would donate the former B.J. Workman Memorial Hospital building to School District 4. That same year, the design of the Village Hospital was unveiled at a special groundbreaking ceremony at the Village at Pelham. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Regional Hospice Home was held in 2006. The $5.3 million facility was carefully designed to create an atmosphere where patients can enjoy being with family.

The 16,000 square-foot, $13 million Bearden-Josey Breast Health Center opened in 2008. Lindsay Webster, a breast cancer survivor, and her husband, Billy, donated $2.5 million to the hospital to set plans for the center in motion. It was named in honor of Jay Bearden, MD, and Julian Josey, MD, founding members of and oncologists at the Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute.

New surgical suites also opened in 2008 and included 12 operating rooms of varying sizes using a modular system proven in Europe. The walls, part of a system called VARIOP, are versatile, functional and can quickly be removed and/or reconfigured as needed. In 2010, Spartanburg Regional became the first hospital in South Carolina to complete a minimally invasive, total port-access robotic assisted lung surgery for early lung cancer. Village Hospital implemented the use of the first wide-bore MRI in the Upstate in 2011. Another change came in April 2012, when Regional Rehab moved to the Thomas E. Hannah Family YMCA.

SRHS’ Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute, a partner with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), joined forces with Bon Secours St. Francis Health System to expand oncology services and clinical research in the Upstate as of 2012. In May 2013, a third Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute – Pelham opened.

In 2014, the Village Hospital at Pelham was renamed Pelham Medical Center, Spartanburg Regional Medical Center was renamed Spartanburg Medical Center and the Spartanburg Regional Physician Group was renamed Medical Group of the Carolinas. All three groups are under the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.

In 2015, Gibbs added CyberKnife Radiosurgery System to their services, a surgery-free radiation therapy. Cyberknife is available only at Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute at Pelham. CyberKnife targets and eliminates many types of cancerous tumors without surgery or even a scar, or an overnight hospital stay. Its robotic tracking technology enables continuous coordination with a patient’s tumor movement during treatment.

Also in 2015, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System assumed operational management of Wallace Thomson Hospital and Ellen Sagar Nursing Home in Union, SC, as a part of the Union Hospital District bankruptcy settlement plan.

SRHS Superlatives

1970s: First approved Family Practice Residency Program in the Southeast; First Program to receive approval and certification from the American Board of Family Practice

1989: First EMS in the state to win the National Paramedic System of the Year award.

2001: Solucient, an independent healthcare performance benchmarking firm, named Spartanburg Regional Medical Center one of the Top 100 Cardiovascular (Heart) Hospitals in the nation in the Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success 2001 study. SRMC’s Regional Heart Center was the only hospital in the Spartanburg/Greenville/Asheville region, and only one of two in the state, to achieve such distinction.

2001: Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System (SRHS) was named one of the nation's “Most Wired Hospitals,” according to the 2003 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study released by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the journal of the American Hospital Association. This marked the second time in three years that SRHS was named a Top 100 hospital.

2003: The Stroke Center became part of the Stroke Center Network of the National Stroke Association and is classified as a Level I Stroke Center.

2005: Spartanburg Regional Medical Center named among the nation’s top three percent of hospitals for excellence in nursing by being awarded Magnet® Status from the prestigious Magnet® Recognition Program. SRMC is the first hospital in South Carolina to be recognized as a national leader in nursing services by the group’s American Nurses Credentialing Center. SRMC is one of only 188 hospitals to receive Magnet Recognition.

2007: HealthGrades recognized Spartanburg Regional as No. 1 in over heart services in South Carolina and No. 1 in heart surgery in North Carolina and South Carolina.

2009: Palmetto Work Force Partnership Award, Large Employer Category.

2010: Spartanburg Regional laid claim to South Carolina’s only residency program to achieve dual accreditation for both the allopathic and osteopathic wings of medicine.

2010: SRMC earned a second Magnet® designation for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. SRMC is the only hospital in South Carolina to receive this prestigious award twice.

2011: Palmetto Hematology Oncology was recognized by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification Program, an affiliate of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). PHO is one of two practices in South Carolina to receive this recognition.

2012: Gibbs Cancer & Research Institute was recognized for award-winning Survivorship Care by the Association of Community Cancer Centers in 2012.

2014: Spartanburg Regional HealthCare System received an ACTION Registry-GWTG Performance Achievement Award in 2014 by the National Cardiovascular Data Registry.

2014: Spartanburg Medical Center was ranked the number one regional hospital in South Carolina by U.S. News & World Report in the 2014-15 U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings. Spartanburg Medical Center earned high-performing status in nine specialty areas: cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and GI surgery; geriatrics; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics; pulmonology; and urology.

2014: North Grove Medical of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System received a HealthStream Award of Excellence for Outpatient-Sleep Lab in 2014.

2014: Pelham Medical Center voted “Best of the Upstate” by readers of The Greenville News.

2015: CyberKnife Radiosurgery System, a surgery-free radiation therapy, is available exclusively at Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute at Pelham starting in 2015.

2015: Spartanburg Regional is the Only in South Carolina to be Recipient of the Healthgrades 2015 Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award™

2015: Spartanburg Regional is the only in South Carolina to be Named Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Cardiac Surgery in 2015

2015: Spartanburg Regional is 1 of 2 in South Carolina to be Five-Star Recipient for Coronary Bypass Surgery for 3 Years in a Row (2013-2015)

2015: Spartanburg Regional is the Only in South Carolina to be Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Failure for 5 Years in a Row (2011-2015)

2015: Spartanburg Medical Center (SMC) was one of 40 nationwide hospitals ranked by the U.S. News & World Report as high performing in the Best Hospitals for Common Care ratings. SMC was the only South Carolina hospital recognized. A total of 4,600 hospitals were evaluated nationwide. SMC earned high-performing status in five specialty areas: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart bypass surgery, heart failure, and hip and knee replacement.

2016: Spartanburg Medical Center (SMC) was named one of America’s 50 Bests Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery by Healthgrades in 2016 and is in the top 5 percent in the nation for cardiac surgery.

Additional Superlatives and Accreditations • South Carolina’s first nationally accredited chest pain center • Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence • First Certified Primary Stroke Center in South Carolina • Gibbs Cancer Center, recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award • Fully accredited breast center • Fully accredited Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit • First accredited Sleep Center in the Upstate (South Carolina) • An original NCI Community Cancer Centers Program since 2007 • Pelham Medical Center ranked a leader in patient satisfaction

References

External links

• Official site