<strong>By Marie McAden</strong>

Beaufort Memorial Hospital (BMH) opened its new 70,000-square foot Okatie Medical Pavilion earlier this week, providing additional health care services in the fast-growing communities of southern Beaufort and Jasper counties.

The brand-new three-story facility opened Nov. 2, featuring access to more than 30 practices offering primary and specialty care along with a walk-in clinic, outpatient and cardiac rehabilitation, laboratory and imaging services, a breast health center and Beaufort Memorial’s second-full-service cancer center.

To better serve the area’s growing aging population, the hospital included a new Memory Center for dementia patients and their caregivers. In addition to providing comprehensive neurological examinations, the center will serve as a research clearing house, directing patients to the care they need and providing resources for their loved ones.

“The Okatie Medical Pavilion is part of Beaufort Memorial’s long-term plan to expand our bricks-and-mortar facilities throughout the county to provide high-quality care where it’s most needed,” BMH President and CEO Russell Baxley said. “We are very excited to bring in new board-certified providers to the area and offer access to specialists that patients would normally have to see in Beaufort or Charleston.”

BMH broke ground on the new building in May 2019 on 19 acres at 122 Okatie Center Boulevard North. It will replace Bluffton Medical Services, a complex of multispecialty medical offices Beaufort Memorial first opened in 2006 in Westbury Park.

Along with a full-time primary care practice, the center offers OB-GYN and orthopaedic services as well as appointments with BMH specialists in cardiology, gastroenterology, general surgery, vascular surgery and neurology.

Subspecialists from MUSC Health will also be seeing patients at the new facility, offering dermatology, foot and ankle orthopaedics, neurosurgery, transplant, gynecology oncology, orthopaedic oncology, and thoracic oncology services. MUSC Children’s Health specialists in cardiology, developmental pediatrics, ENT, gastroenterology, hematology/oncology, orthopaedics, neurology and rheumatology will also be available.

One of the core offerings in the complex is the Beaufort Memorial New River Cancer Center, developed in affiliation with MUSC Health and Alliance Oncology. It will provide radiation and medical oncology, chemotherapy and infusion services, access to clinical trials, and consultations with subspecialists experienced in treating rare or complex cancers.

Like the Keyserling Cancer Center on the main hospital campus, the New River center is equipped with the latest technology in the fight against cancer. It features the state-of-the-art Varian Halcyon™ Linear Accelerator radiotherapy system, which targets tumors with pinpoint precision while providing a treatment environment that’s quieter and more comfortable for the patient.

On-site medical staff includes board-certified radiation oncologist Dr. Paul Saconn, who has worked in cancer facilities in North Carolina, West Virginia and Hilton Head Island, and board-certified medical oncologist Dr. Stephen Tiley, previously with Meadows Regional Cancer Center in Vidalia, Georgia.

The joint venture expands the collaboration BMH has had with MUSC Health. Initiated in 2016, the affiliation with the National Cancer Institute-designated program at MUSC has allowed BMH patients to participate in groundbreaking clinical trials studying promising new cancer drugs and treatments.

“This expansion of our existing relationship with BMH to extend specialty services in the Bluffton area aligns with MUSC Health’s commitment to making sure that patients throughout South Carolina receive the right care, in the right place, and at the right time,” MUSC Health CEO and Vice President For Academic Affairs Dr. Patrick J. Cawley. “By working together, we can provide more convenient, coordinated and high-quality care to all of those individuals who need both MUSC and BMH services.”

For more information on the Okatie Medical Pavilion or any of its services, visit BeaufortMemorial.org/OkatieMedicalPavilion.