A new stand-alone emergency department in northern New Hanover County is expected to open its doors by May 2015.

New Hanover Regional Medical Center recently began construction on the 30,000-square-foot facility at 151 Scotts Hill Medical Drive, next to NHRMC Atlantic SurgiCenter.

The building will include 10 treatment rooms and one critical care room and will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by board-certified emergency physicians, nurses certified in emergency care and a multidisciplinary support care team, officials said.

The location will also offer full lab and diagnostic services through NHRMC Health & Diagnostic Services, which is relocating from its Porters Neck location and offering services including X-ray, CT scans, digital mammography, ultrasound, MRI and bone density screenings. 

“This new emergency department will allow residents in the northern part of our county more convenient access to emergency care when they need it,” Christy Spivey, administrator of emergency and trauma services at NHRMC, said in a news release.

Randall Willard, an emergency physician with Eastern Carolina Emergency Physicians and chief of the emergency medicine department at NHRMC, said the new facility would save valuable time for patients experiencing an emergency in that section of the county. 

The building, designed by BBH Design, will be built by general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie. The estimated project cost is about $15.1 million and will be funded from NHRMC’s capital budget.
It will be built on about 26 acres of land off Market Street. A multidisciplinary team of physicians,
nurses, technicians, paramedics and other emergency personnel worked with the design firm to provide input on many elements of the layout and design of the building, NHRMC spokeswoman Erin Balzotti said.

Staff gave input on room size, seating arrangements, sink placement, windows, storage, bed placement and other elements of the design “in order to ensure maximum efficiency and focus on the family-centered care that is standard throughout NHRMC,” Balzotti said.