A year and a half ago, Leslie Malpass had one of the worst days of her life.
Her youngest daughter was involved in a four-wheeler accident near their home in Delco in rural Columbus County and needed life-saving care. Emergency workers took her to the closest hospital: Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, more than 20 miles away.
Malpass, whose daughter recovered, was among the nine people who spoke during a public hearing on Friday in support of Columbus Regional Healthcare’s proposal to build a hospital in Delco.
“We could just have been five minutes away instead of 45 minutes away by the time we actually got there,” Malpass said at the public library in Whiteville.
The Whiteville-based health care system submitted a proposal to state regulators in October, asking permission to move 30 of its acute care beds to a new, 144,000-square-foot facility it wants to build at the site of the former Acme-Delco Middle School.
The hearing on Friday was part of North Carolina’s Certificate of Need process. Under state law, health care organizations that want to build new facilities or expand services must submit an application to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services for approval.
Novant Health also submitted a proposal to build a hospital along the U.S. 74 corridor near the Columbus and Brunswick County line. The much-larger health care system wants to move 20 acute care beds from its Brunswick Medical Center in Bolivia to a new location on Fawnbrook Way in Leland, 7 miles from the proposed Columbus Regional East site.
Both proposals include many of the same services, including emergency care and surgery.
State regulators have up to 150 days to review the applications from Novant Health and Columbus Regional to determine whether one or both can move forward.
The state Department of Health and Human Services doesn’t comment on applications pending review, spokesperson Hannah Jones said in an email to the Border Belt Independent. She said, however, that the applications aren’t going through competitive review, which is when approving one could require the denial of the other. This could mean that there’s room in the market for both hospitals.
Novant Health hosted a public hearing on December 8 in Bolivia. Laurie Whalin, president of Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center and acute care operations for the Novant Health Coastal Region, presented the health system’s proposed Leland facility to residents and a state regulator.
Growth Along U.S. 74
The plan for Columbus Regional East has been at least a year in the making; the health system began leasing the shuttered middle school from the county for $1 per year in October 2024, according to The News Reporter.
It would cost more than $214 million to build and furnish the facility, and hospital leaders want to start serving patients there in October 2029, according to health system’s Certificate of Need proposal.
“We understand this community,” Jason Beck, president and CEO of Columbus Regional, said during the hearing Friday. “We understand its needs and its challenges. Our proposal builds on that foundation of trust and service.”
Bolton Mayor Shawn Maynor and Curtis Hill, president of Columbus County’s NAACP chapter, spoke in favor of Columbus Regional East. Along with other supporters, they said the proposed facility would serve “the orphan region” of eastern Columbus County.
“We need a facility that gives us quality health care that is easily accessible to all of us,” said Pamela Howell, the tribal administrator for the Waccamaw Siouan Indians, a state-recognized tribe based largely in Columbus and Bladen counties.
The U.S. 74 corridor near the county line has seen new development. Leland gained almost 10,000 residents between 2010 and 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Bolton leaders approved the construction of 133 new homes and commercial spaces in June, and the town will get a new K-8 school in 2027.
Novant Health has proposed 11 facilities this year, from Buncombe to Brunswick counties, including the Leland site, according to the state’s Certificate of Need application logs.
“We’ve long had plans to build a hospital in Leland to bring care closer to home, relying on our strong and growing network of physicians and advanced practice providers,” Whalin said in a written statement to the Border Belt Independent.
Community Need
Some speakers on Friday said a hospital would bring much-needed jobs to the area.
“You cannot have successful economic development without high-level health care services,” said Steve Yost, president of NC Southeast, a public-private partnership that tries to recruit businesses to the region.
Jessica Malpass, who is related to Leslie Malpass, said she supports Columbus Regional East—but some of her neighbors fear that Delco will lose its rural, small-town charm.
The community needs a hospital, she said. She recalled how her sister-in-law, who experienced multiple health issues, was forced to travel to Whiteville, Brunswick County, or New Hanover County for care.
“A closer hospital would have meant quicker, more accessible care,” Jessica Malpass said during the hearing. “It would have been less pain for her and more frequent family visits, which we can tell you is very important to anyone’s healing.”
In its application to the state, Columbus Regional said Novant Health has overcrowded emergency departments, including at its New Hanover facility.
On average, 90% of New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s 663 acute care hospital beds were occupied last year, Whalin said during the December 8 public hearing. More than 68% of the 74 acute care beds at the Brunswick medical center were occupied on average last year, Whalin said, exceeding the state average of about 63.5%.
But Novant Health argued to the state that Columbus Regional’s proposed hospital wouldn’t address the area’s needs, as many local residents choose to receive care at Novant Health.
“CRHS is not proposing this hospital to serve ‘its market,’” Novant Health wrote. “Instead, it is trying to capture a larger percentage of patients who are currently well served by other providers.”
Columbus Regional filed a written response to Novant Health’s comments, stating that the arguments “reflect a strategic effort to delay or prevent a competitor from entering a ‘fortress’ market that Novant has long dominated.”
“Across Brunswick, New Hanover, and Pender Counties, area residents have limited choices for inpatient care—a situation that Novant’s own application acknowledges has resulted in overcrowded facilities and long wait times,” Columbus Regional wrote. “Columbus Regional East would provide a meaningful competitive alternative, offering patients greater choice and more convenient access to care.”
Leslie and Jessica Malpass say there’s room for Columbus Regional and Novant Health to expand.
“There’s enough need for both—enough need for all those beds to be full,” Jessica Malpass said.