Behavioral health experts in the Lowcountry say access to care is one of the region’s greatest needs. In an effort to meet the growing demand for behavioral health services Trident Medical Center announces it has submitted a Certificate of Need (CON) to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) for a new freestanding behavioral health facility.

Dr. Franklin Drummond, medical director of Trident’s behavioral health program, Lowcountry Transitions at Trident Medical Center, says if approved the freestanding $35 million 43-bed facility would house the program’s inpatient and outpatient services. The proposed site of the new facility would be near Trident’s North Charleston campus.

In 2014 Lowcountry Transitions opened a 17-bed inpatient facility inside Trident Medical Center. Trident Health President and CEO Todd Gallati said it’s rare to have beds available in the unit. “As soon as one patient is discharged we usually have another behavioral health patient ready to be admitted.”

Gallati says the Lowcountry Transitions staff are among the most qualified and caring behavioral health team he’s worked with in his nearly 30-year career. “It takes a uniquely qualified and caring person to choose behavioral health as a career. It can be physically and emotionally challenging, but also extremely rewarding. Our patients are in good hands.”

Pending CON approval by DHEC the project is expected to take two-and-a-half years to complete.