Palmetto Health Richland

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Location
Palmetto Health Richland

Place	Columbia, South Carolina, (US)
Organization
Care System	Non-profit
Hospital Type	General and Teaching Hospital
Affiliated University	University of South Carolina
Services
Emergency Dept.	Level I
Beds	649 Licensed Beds
History
Founded	1892 as Columbia Hospital 1972 as Richalnd Memorial Hospital 1998 as Palmetto Health Richland
Links
Website	Palmetto Health Homepage
See also	Hospitals in the United States

Palmetto Richland System is composed of two separate hospital systems which formed in the late 1990s when the Richland Memorial and Baptist systems joined to form Palmetto Health.

Palmetto Richland hospital was originally established in 1892 as Columbia Hospital and was one of the first hospitals in the city. Over the years, with the growth of Columbia and the arrival of Fort Jackson, the hospital expanded and quickly outgrew its original location on Harden St. by the 1960s. Later renamed Richland Memorial Hospital it moved in 1972 to its present location near the intersection of Bull St. and Harden St. Extension.

Today, Palmetto Health Richland is one of the largest hospitals in the state with over 20 specialties. It is affiliated with the University of South Carolina training future doctors and nursesand is the regional referral center for the Midlands of South Carolina. Palmetto Richland is also the site of the Carolinas' first Gamma Knife Center. The hospital's Total Joint Center offers a unique program for hip and knee replacements designed to meet all patient needs. In 2007, Richland opened its Robotic Surgery Center, the newest advancement in minimally invasive surgery.

1 Palmetto Baptist
2 Palmetto Health Heart Hospital
3 LifeNet South Carolina
4 External links

[edit] Palmetto Baptist

Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital

Baptist Hospital , was founded in 1914, by the widow of Dr. Augustus B. Knowlton, in downtown Columbia facility on Marion Street as South Carolina Hospital - two buildings that housed 70 beds and a school of nursing.. Much of Palmetto Health Baptist's success over the past 80 plus years is attributable to its strong and dedicated leadership. There have been only three presidents – W. M. Whiteside, William A. Boyce and Charles D. Beaman Jr. – a continuity of administration of which very few healthcare systems can boast.

Today Palmetto Health Baptist Columbia operates at a capacity of 489 acute care beds with some 2,300 full- and part-time employees, nearly 750 physicians and 500 volunteers. Palmetto Baptist Columbia is regarded as one of the best equipped and up-to-date hospitals in the Southeast.

[edit] Palmetto Health Heart Hospital

In January 2006, the 124 inpatient bed Palmetto Health Heart Hospital, located on the Richland campus, opened its doors and became the most advanced, most sophisticated, state-of-the-art cardiac care facility in the state. Serving patients from the Midlands and all over central South Carolina, the $80 million, 200,000-square-foot hospital is the state’s only freestanding facility dedicated entirely to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

[edit] LifeNet South Carolina

The Palmetto Richland was home to CareForce, an emergency and critical-care-transport aeromedical service. Founded in 1998, CareForce is one of the two aeromedical services in the Midlands area of South Carolina.

The CareForce helicopter fleet had a state-of-the-art Bell 230 owned by Palmetto Health and a Bell 206 is co-located every other day at Bamberg Memorial Hospital in Bamberg, SC and Clarendon Memorial Hospital in Manning, SC. This allowed CareForce to be operational at all times, even during routine maintenance.

On May 1, 2007, CareForce merged with Life Reach, which provided services to the Providence Heart Institute, a hospital of the Sisters of Charity Ministry. The new company was named LiftNet South Carolina, and is owned and operated by the Air Methods Corporation.