Compromise - that seems to be the solution to most problems and it seems most Barnwell County residents will have to make the compromise of driving a few - not a lot - extra miles to get a higher quality of health care.
Dobb’s Equity Partners, LLC announced Jan. 24 their intention to locate the new regional hospital in Bamberg County. The location, on U.S. 78 at the intersection of Ghents Branch Road, is two miles from the Barnwell County line between Blackville and Denmark.
A Dobb’s press release states the location will “be closest to (the) largest number of people from both counties.”
Construction is scheduled to be completed in three and a half years, providing both hospitals emerge from bankruptcy proceedings.
Dobbs’ provided a chart of estimated drive times which compares the drive time to the new location with the drive times to each of the current hospitals in Barnwell and Bamberg counties.
Based on their calculations, residents in Blackville, Williston, Hilda and Denmark will see their average drive times reduced while residents in the towns of Barnwell and Bamberg will see their average drive times increase from five to 12 minutes and five to 10 minutes respectively.
It looks like someone drew a line between the two communities and tried to hit the exact middle.
While it is good to see Dobbs has considered the driving time to the regional hospital in their decision on its location, the economic impact of that decision is yet to be seen.
Other than Bamberg County in general, the town of Blackville may see the most positive impact in the selection of the proposed location for Barnwell County as it will be the nearest.
When the new hospital locates in Bamberg County, there is expected to be additional medical practices and support facilities locating in the area of the hospital. Usually these type additional practices locate within a few hundred feet to a mile of a hospital.
Unfortunately for Barnwell County, this geographic truism may exclude much of the expected growth from benefiting this county in direct dollars.
Still, we give credit to Dobbs for trying to make a good decision to benefit both counties geographically. Certainly this is much better than an alternative which could have set the hospital further east into Bamberg County.
There is another factor impacting Barnwell County in this plan.
The development agreement signed in 2011 by Dobbs, Barnwell and Bamberg Counties included tax incentives granted to Dobbs. Additionally, Barnwell County agreed to pay Dobbs a subsidy of $450,000 annually for three years. Documents don’t spell out exactly what that subsidy is paying for.
Bamberg doesn’t have to pay a subsidy to our knowledge.
Both counties will also have to maintain their current level of ambulance services for two years.
It seems a lot of cash will be leaving Barnwell County in addition to healthcare facilities.
We wonder if Barnwell and Dobbs could revisit - and compromise on - the subsidy. It doesn’t seem fair on the surface that not only will our county not get the location but also has to pay a $1.35 million subsidy.
We hope future compromises will better benefit Barnwell County.