Novant seeking approval to build ER in Cornelius
Novant facility at exit 23
Nov. 19. By Dave Vieser. Cornelius is becoming an increasingly attractive location for medical facilities. Just a few months after Atrium Health opened a new full-service hospital on Highway 21, its chief competitor, Novant Health, is seeking approval for two new facilities in town.
Novant is proposing a freestanding 11,400 square foot emergency room on Holiday Lane, just northeast of Exit 28 and roughly two miles from the new Atrium emergency room. A public hearing on Novant’s request for a certificate of need will be conducted by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. A hospital needs a certificate because the state regulates the growth of medical facilities to ensure need, control costs, and protect access to care.
The project is expected to cost $16.5 million and would be completed in January 2028. The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. Dec. 18 in Community Room B of the Allegra Westbrooks Regional Library, 2412 Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte. Developers have also filed conditional zoning request with the Town of Cornelius. The site was previously approved for a hotel.
Earlier this fall, Novant filed rezoning paperwork with the town to build a 20,000-square-foot freestanding urgent care and same-day surgery center on Westmoreland Road, where a daycare center was once approved. The 4.8-acre site, comprising two tax parcels, is on the north side of Westmoreland Road near the edge of the stalled Alexander Farms property and about a quarter-mile east of the Catawba Avenue intersection.
The property is vacant now but once included a private home that was demolished several years ago.
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Am I the only one who thinks another free standing ER makes no sense? Imagine a MVA (motor vehicle accident) and the patient needs to be admitted for surgery and follow up in ICU. Now they will also have a huge bill for the medical helicopter to transfer them to a ‘real’ hospital. I don’t get this at all.
Exactly, anyone who’s had that experience at the Atrium ER at exit 25 will understand. And worse, if no bed availability for transfer, you are left in holding pattern. Absolute horrible idea!!
We voted in a new mayor to STOP the building and horrible road congestion. Let’s see how this plays out.
A same-day surgery center would FABULOUS. Very much needed in this area.
Hospitals may be 2 miles apart, but they’d be more like 30 minutes apart during prime drive time. That could matter in an emergency. Just sayin.
it would be valuable to know the capability planned for in the Emergency facility
No details have been provided yet
Why does a private company need government approval to open an emergency room? Isn’t this the choice of the company that’s putting its own capital at risk? It’s fair to question whether establishing another freestanding ER is a good idea, but ultimately that decision should rest with the risk-taker. In the end, a business owner succeeds only if the service meets a real need. That positive incentive doesn’t exist for politicians. They risk other people’s money without facing the consequences. Business owners will always make better decisions when they’re left to operate on their own.
Help me to understand how a cardiac patient, for example, (who needs a heart cath and/or emergency surgery) is going to be OK at one of these ‘freestanding ERs” instead of a real hospital with cardiac surgeons either right there or immediately on call – with a CCU. There is a Novant hospital in Huntersville. I’d like someone to explain this, in simple terms, to those of us who need true ‘emergency’ care (not ‘urgent’ care – which isn’t the same). PLEASE stop building these things. Send us to ERs with the capability to admit us upstairs, do our surgery, and not send us by chopper or another ambulance. For cardiac patients? Minutes and hours can be the difference between life and death. I’m going to sign my name because I feel strongly about this.
Adding an additional ER makes more sense at Exit 30 in Davidson where the north end of town is not well served.
Absolutely NO at Exit 28!
The choice of the Westmoreland site baffles me for two reasons:
1) This location is around the corner from the new Atrium hospital and only a few miles away from the existing Novant ER on HWY 21, south of exit 25.
2) Except for the future Alexander Farms commercial plot and the athletic field, there is nothing but residential housing (North, South, East and West) near this location. So in addition to the increased traffic, will we be subjected to hearing sirens all hours of the day/night?