Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center in Bolivia celebrates its fifth anniversary in its new facility and its 10th anniversary since joining Novant Health in 2006.

“Ten years ago, we promised the Brunswick County community that we would bring them remarkable health care. The achievements we have been able to make show we are doing that,” Shelbourn Stevens, president of Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center, said in a news release.

Brunswick Medical Center moved from Supply to Bolivia in 2011 with the opening of the new facility. The previous hospital opened in 1977 as Brunswick Community Hospital, and in 2006, it merged with Novant Health, a health system based in Winston-Salem, in 2006. 

Statewide, Novant Health employs 22,402 people and generated more than $7 billion of economic activity-output in the state of North Carolina last year, according to a recently released economic impact analysis commissioned by the health system and done by the Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy. 

When the new Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center facility opened, it brought expanded services for the community. The facility includes 74 beds, four operating rooms and one C-section room, a 24-hour emergency department and a wide range of services, including surgery, imaging, laboratory, cardiac rehabilitation, physical therapy, speech therapy, respiratory and pharmacy.

There has been significant growth in 10 years at the hospital and in the surrounding community, Novant Health officials said.

Brunswick Medical Center has added a variety of new programs and services, including da Vinci robotic surgery, outpatient infusion and IV therapies, speech therapy, mobile mammography, teleneurology and telepsychiatry, lung CT screening, palliative care and wound care.

Novant Health also added a medical office building next to Brunswick Medical Center, opened the Novant Health South Brunswick Medical Plaza in Carolina Shores and added a second endoscopy suite as well as a procedure room at the hospital.

Novant Health team members, providers and volunteers also have grown significantly since Brunswick Medical Center joined the health system, the news release stated.

• The number of medical center employees has increased 48 percent, from 366 in 2006 to 540 in 2016.

• The number of medical group employees has grown 933 percent, from 18 in 2006 to 186 in 2016.

• The number of medical staff has increased 157 percent, from 113 in 2006 to 291 in 2016.

Novant officials also said patient levels have increased since 2006.

• The average daily census at Brunswick Medical Center has grown 32 percent, from 34 in 2006 to 45 in 2015.

• The number of surgeries has increased 89 percent, from 2,312 in 2006 to 4,363 in 2015.

• The number of emergency visits has grown 79 percent, from 17,598 in 2006 to 31,550 in 2015.

• The number of births has increased 92 percent, from 243 in 2006 to 466 in 2015.

• The medical group has increased clinic locations from two in 2006 to 20 today. The medical group now has 33 physicians and 22 advanced practitioners.

“We are proud of the growth and accolades we have been able to accomplish,” William Sherrod, Brunswick Medical Center’s chief of medical staff, said in the release. “Brunswick County remains a medically underserved area, according to state and national standards, so our ability to recruit new physicians to this area has been crucial. We will continue our work to attract new providers to our area and to add new specialties to serve our local community close to where they live and work.”