MUSC Foundation receives $1M from Town of Kiawah Island in support of Sea Islands Medical Pavilion

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Jan. 13, 2022) –The Medical University of South Carolina Foundation has received a commitment of $1 million from the Town of Kiawah Island in support of MUSC Health’s Sea Islands Medical Pavilion.

“We are grateful to the Town of Kiawah for its major investment in our mission and their ongoing partnership to help us enable the right care, in the right place and at the right time,” said David J. Cole, M.D., FACS, MUSC president. “This donation will make a significant difference as we seek to improve the well-being of the Sea Islands community, expand access to appropriate care, and bolster connectivity to the state’s only comprehensive academic health system when patients require the most complex care.”

The donation has been designated for a healing, restful green space and garden immediately adjacent to the new facility. Construction on the Sea Islands project is expected to begin in early 2022 and conclude in fall 2023.

“The Town is proud to invest in MUSC's Sea Islands Medical Pavilion and excited about the emergent care services it will provide to Kiawah, Seabrook, Johns and Wadmalaw Islands, and the broader community,” said Town of Kiawah Mayor John D. Labriola. “Our geography has always been a challenge and concern. This new facility will make a crucial difference in life-threatening emergencies and provide the Sea Island communities with greater ease of mind. We are grateful to MUSC for their pursuit of this project, to Kiawah Partners for donating the land, and to the other community partners who have made this possible.”

During the next five years, double digit population growth is anticipated in the Sea Islands community. This growth, along with the islands' geographic isolation, demographics, and community health profiles, has created an urgent need for additional health care services in this part of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

The area also accommodates a large seasonal population of tourists, many of whom have trouble navigating local health care services.

To meet this growing need, MUSC Health is building a new medical facility on Johns Island in the immediate vicinity of Kiawah and Seabrook islands. The facility will provide residents and visitors alike with convenient and rapid access to MUSC Health’s emergency care services, select outpatient services, and some of the nation’s top providers in primary and specialty care.

“People living in this area have to travel 30 or 45 minutes to reach the nearest hospital, sometimes more depending on traffic. That’s a big problem for someone having a stroke or cardiac event,” said Patrick J. Cawley, M.D., MUSC Health CEO and vice president for Health Affairs, University. “This new facility brings that care directly into the community. We’re extremely grateful to the Town of Kiawah and Kiawah Partners for helping to make that possible.”                         

The project was made possible in part by Kiawah Partners, which donated six acres of land to the Medical University Hospital Authority (MUSC Health), valued at $4.85 million. The project is estimated to cost $24 million. Of that amount, MUSC is working to raise $15 million in private support.

The 22,740-square-foot facility will be located at 1884 Seabrook Island Road, near Bohicket Marina. The ED will include four exam rooms, two trauma rooms, imaging and lab services and a helicopter pad. The medical office will offer primary and specialty care. A telemedicine network will connect the entire facility to MUSC Health providers in downtown Charleston for additional care and consultation, if needed.

In mid-June 2021, McMillan Pazdan Smith (MPS) was chosen to design the project. MPS is also one of two architectural firms working on designs for a new MUSC Health hospital in rural Williamsburg County.

Renderings of the Sea Islands medical pavilion are available upon request.

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About the MUSC Foundation

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Foundation was chartered in 1966 as a charitable educational foundation to support the education, research, patient care and other programs at the Medical University. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, contributions to which are tax-deductible.

Since its beginning, the MUSC Foundation has encouraged such worthwhile academic enterprises as endowed professorships; scholarships; the acquisition and development of campus facilities to serve student, teaching, research or clinical needs; and awards in honor of academic excellence. In addition, it has encouraged achievements in biomedical research.

The Foundation is governed by a 31-member board of directors. The president of the Medical University is an ex-officio, non-voting member of the board. Three members of the MUSC Board of Trustees also serve on the board. The remaining 27 at-large directors are not directly affiliated with the university. Five are alumni of MUSC. The foundation’s funds are invested and managed by professional money managers selected by the foundation’s Investment Committee. This committee uses a professional investment advisor to assist in evaluating its managers.

About MUSC 

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is home to the oldest medical school in the South as well as the state’s only integrated academic health sciences center, with a unique charge to serve the state through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and nearly 800 residents in six colleges: Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. MUSC brought in more than $327.6 million in biomedical research funds in fiscal year 2021, continuing to lead the state in obtaining federal and National Institutes of Health funding, with more than $220 million. For information on academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the clinical health system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality and safe patient care while training generations of compassionate, competent health care providers to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Patient care is provided at 14 hospitals with approximately 2,500 beds and five additional hospital locations in development, more than 300 telehealth sites and nearly 750 care locations situated in the Lowcountry, Midlands, Pee Dee and Upstate regions of South Carolina. In 2021, for the seventh consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC and its affiliates have collective annual budgets of $4.4 billion. The nearly 24,000 MUSC team members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, and care team members who deliver groundbreaking education, research, technology and patient care.