Leaders, clinicians, community members celebrate new children’s “one stop” care and surgery center

The MUSC Children’s Health R. Keith Summey Medical Pavilion opens April 1

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (March 8, 2019) - The MUSC Children’s Health R. Keith Summey Medical Pavilion, located at 2250 Mall Drive, North Charleston, SC 29406, will open to patients and families on April 1. In celebration of this upcoming occasion, MUSC Health CEO Dr. Patrick J. Cawley, MUSC Board of Trustees Chairman Mr. Charles Schulze, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, MUSC Children’s Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Scheurer, local patient Matthew Pilley and his mom Sheri, participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony held March 8.

“I get incredibly excited thinking about how this facility is going to transform and grow comprehensive pediatric care for the people in this community and for all those driving from around the state to see our specialists,” Scheurer said. “From ear tubes and flu treatments to infusions and specialized outpatient surgeries, it can be done here. To put it in the simplest of terms, this place is all about children and their health. Children are not mini-adults, and they deserve a child-focused, convenient and specialized facility to handle any need, regardless of size or scope.”

Scheurer noted the numerous MUSC Children’s Health care team leaders and members it took to make the Summey Medical Pavilion a possibility and introduced patient Matthew Pilley and his mom, Sheri, who described how the facility will make a difference in the lives of patients. Matthew was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at age nine and through the years has undergone multiple surgeries and procedures. He has had to endure many difficult medications and follows a strict therapeutic diet. There have been many visits to the doctor and to MUSC. At 15 years old, he is now in remission, growing, thriving and playing varsity soccer on his high school team.

“By opening this facility, MUSC Health reached a significant milestone for the future of children’s health in our community,” Cawley said. “This new facility would not have been possible without the vision and commitment of Mayor Summey, the North Charleston City Council and the community at large. They recognized that by donating the land that this new 100,000-square-foot facility now sits on, they could make a huge difference in how children’s health care is accessed, delivered and maintained for generations to come.”

The Summey Medical Pavilion will offer pediatric specialty services in a location that offers convenient and enhanced access to the children and families living throughout the Tri-county area, as well as families traveling to specialty clinics from all corners of the state. Among its many services and amenities, this new facility includes a pediatric outpatient surgical facility with four operating rooms, nearly 40 medical exam rooms with space for many pediatric specialists and clinics, an after-hours urgent care clinic, imaging services (MRI, CT scan and ultrasound), an EKG stress room, infusion services for very difficult and complex patient cases, a pharmacy, a lab, child life play spaces and technology that allows families to register at home or check in at the touch of a screen.  The entire patient experience will be delivered in one place, which is a first for the Charleston area in terms of the level of coordinated, comprehensive and specialized pediatric health care available all at one convenient location.

Another first involves the facility’s connection to a research collaboration with MUSC and Clemson University. Spearheaded by principal investigators Scott T. Reeves, M.D., the John E. Mahaffey, M.D. endowed chair and chairman of the MUSC Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, and Anjali Joseph, Ph.D., the Spartanburg Regional Health System endowed chair in architecture + health design and director of the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing at Clemson University, the four-year $4 million research grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality aims to redesign operating room spaces and equipment placement for better, safer and more efficient surgical outcomes. Early simulations of the operating room designs in the new Summey Medical Pavilion have been part of the testing phase of the project, and as part of the project’s fourth year, real-time data will be collected to see how the new operating room designs improve patient care delivery. 

Last December, the Medical University of South Carolina Board of Trustees named the new facility in Summey’s honor, recognizing his commitment to children’s health, business development and public service and for his vision and support of the MUSC mission.

“MUSC Children’s Health will be providing the highest level of outpatient care in one location. Easy access off of I-26 and I-526. Five hundred free parking spots.  More than 27 specialty clinics, pediatric physicians, nurses and other staff all in one space. Just imagine how that will change the patient experience for children and their families,” Schulze said.  “We could never have made that happen without a team of dedicated people willing to think differently and take the time and energy to make this happen, and that includes Mayor Summey and his outstanding leadership.”

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About MUSC Children’s Health

At MUSC Children’s Health we are imagining what’s possible for each and every child by providing the pediatric expertise your child deserves and needs. From promoting healthy lifestyles to offering life-saving treatments, we deliver comprehensive and compassionate care to children throughout South Carolina and beyond. Our integrated health care system consists of a 186-bed pediatric hospital providing the most advanced care possible in more than 26 specialty areas. We also provide the same depth and breadth of expertise in multiple neighborhood locations throughout the Lowcountry, offering primary, urgent and specialty care.  As a Level 1 Trauma center, our pediatric emergency department specializes in providing emergency care for any serious injury or illness your child may experience at home, at school, or at play. Working collaboratively with pediatricians throughout the community, MUSC Children’s Health also provides after-hours care to children from birth to seventeen years of age in three different locations on weeknights, weekends and holidays. In addition to the clinical care MUSC Children’s Health provides, we are a major pediatric clinical research center conducting significant and ongoing research efforts through the Charles P. Darby Research Institute. This involvement allows us to enhance our ability to provide the highest level of care to children by translating laboratory advances to bedside, developing new technologies and providing clinical trials.