MARTIN COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) – ECU Health received a $25 million check Thursday night for a new rural emergency hospital in Martin County, three years after the Martin General Hospital closed and filed for bankruptcy.
Rep. Timothy Reeder presented the check at Thursday’s commissioner meeting. The money is part of a $75 million state investment that includes $60 million for the hospital and $15 million for planning and the expansion of the ECU Health Beaufort Hospital.
Reeder, an emergency physician, said he understands the importance of local access to health care.
“Martin County has suffered over the last several years with the absence of a hospital. This is just the first step of trying to bring healthcare back to Martin County into rural North Carolina,” Reeder said.
Brian Floyd, chief operating officer at ECU Health, said he is grateful to the General Assembly for the funds. He said health care services will be restored through the rural emergency model.
“That means patients can receive their emergency care here in Martin County, and then if they need inpatient capacity, they’ll have options at the Beaufort facility. for them close to home and nearby here in Martin County,” Floyd said.
Floyd said ECU Health will work with Martin County to assess whether the old Martin General Hospital building can be used to provide emergency services temporarily while the new hospital is built.
“Even that process will take some time. It’s been closed for three years or more. It has not been operational. We will have to go through codes, life safety codes, building codes, get the facility up to where we can use it for medical care provision,” Floyd said.
ECU Health did not give a timeline for when it aims to open the new rural emergency hospital, but said construction will take two to three years. ECU Health also did not reveal where it plans to build the hospital.
Officials with ECU Health say the new hospital would be the first rural emergency hospital in the state.
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