Officials with Carolinas Healthcare System, the parent company of Anson Community Hospital, are expecting word soon on final approvals needed before the design and construction of a new hospital can move forward.
Carolinas Healthcare System director of corporate communications Phil Whitesell said that the state is expected to make its decision on the hospital’s certificate of need by next week.
CHS officials are also hopeful that the purchase of a piece of property for the new facility can be finalized in the next few weeks. Whitesell said the healthcare system is looking at property in Wadesboro, either directly on U.S. Highway 74 or with easy access to 74.
Anson County Manager Lawrence Gatewood said that the Centennial Project, as the new facility has been dubbed, will hopefully open in 2014, after an accelerated construction schedule.
As for the current hospital building, its future is still unknown. The property, located at 402 Morven Road, will revert back to the county once the Centennial Project opens. The county is currently evaluating the feasibility of converting the hospital building into county offices. Gatewood and about a dozen department heads toured the hospital on Nov. 14, and Gatewood said at the Nov. 15 Anson Economic Development Corporation meeting the following day that the hospital may actually have too much space for the county to use.
If the county can’t find a use for the building, it may be demolished.
The county will make its recommendations for the building in early 2013.
“The county has kindly requested that CHS grant the county the funds designated for demolishing the hospital buildings should the decision be made to move forward the renovation,” Gatewood said.
The Lillie Bennett nursing facility on the hospital grounds will remain in operation, no matter what the county and CHS decide to do with the current Anson Community Hospital building.
Further details on the plans for the Centennial Project will be announced in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to The Anson Record for the latest updates.
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