RSF Berkeley Hospital expansion project celebrates milestone

Final beam placed on hospital expansion that will double the number of beds

The final beam was placed atop the Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital expansion project on Friday, a significant milestone that demonstrates how the hospital is growing to meet the needs of the thriving surrounding community.

The expansion project will double the number of beds from 50 to 100 and add 200,000 square feet of new or renovated space to the existing 116,000-square-foot facility. The expansion project is on track to be finished in 2026 and will make the hospital the third largest of the four-hospital healthcare system.

“Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital has been bustling since it opened in 2019,” said Dr. Megan Baker, interim president and chief executive officer of Roper St. Francis Healthcare. “We’re grateful to the community and our team as we expand our footprint and services offered here to meet the needs of this booming population.”

The expanded hospital campus will include more space in the Emergency Department, which will reduce waiting times and improve overall patient experience. The project includes expansion of Cardiac, Orthopaedics and Obstetrics services. The expansion also allows for inpatient dialysis services in addition to new features at the Medical Office Building.

Optimizing the healthcare system’s footprint in the Lowcountry is part of the five key initiatives included in the Roper St. Francis Healthcare 2030 strategic plan. The Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital expansion is vital to meeting the needs of highly populated and growing communities like Goose Creek and Summerville.

Roper St. Francis Healthcare championed for 11 years the need for Berkeley County to have a full-service hospital. When the hospital opened on Oct. 4, 2019 – the first of its kind in 45 years – it already was undersized because of the county’s tremendous population growth during those 11 years.