History at Self

In April 1944, a tornado caused extensive damage – beyond repair – to the original Greenwood hospital. A site was selected for a new facility, and construction of the new hospital began in 1948 on the former site of a local military academy.

On November 1, 1951, Self Memorial Hospital opened and, for six decades, it has provided outstanding medical care to the residents of Greenwood and the seven-county Lakelands region of Upstate South Carolina.

The facility was built through the generosity of the late James C. Self Sr., president of Greenwood Mills, as a memorial to his father and brother, both of whom were physicians. The hospital began with a staff of 150. Today the area’s largest healthcare provider and employer requires the talents of more than 2,000 team members and has 358 patient beds. The medical center has undergone extensive expansion since 1951. A six-story wing was added to the east side of the hospital in 1959, providing new outpatient, laboratory, X-ray and operating room facilities, bringing the bed capacity at that time to 266.

In 1969, Self Memorial was deeded to Greenwood County, which, in turn, financed a multimillion-dollar building program completed in 1971. This increased the hospital’s capacity to 361 beds with new and expanded ancillary services.

The hospital began a postgraduate medical education program in 1977. Montgomery Center for Family Medicine moved into a new building on Edgefield Street across from the hospital in 1998 and now graduates 10 family medicine physicians each year. Next door is the Optimum Life Center, an outpatient rehabilitation center that opened in 1999 and serves more than 200 patients daily. A revamped Emergency Care Center featuring 32 patient rooms and spacious waiting area opened in 1998.

The organization undertook a $19.7 million construction project in 1988. This addition included new surgical facilities, new intensive and coronary care units, a modern maternity and newborn complex and a centralized, outpatient treatment and diagnostic center. On the facility’s 50th anniversary in 2001, the hospital changed its name to Self Regional Healthcare to reflect its expanded scope of services. In July 2006, inpatient services were moved into the new state-of-the-art 224-bed Patient Tower.

Major growth and renovation continued in 2011 when the health system invested in a 4,000 square foot cancer center, consolidating services from Radiation oncology and Medical oncology and hematology under one roof. The new cancer center promotes convenience for patients and families in a healing environment.

On the strength of nationally recognized success in both neurosurgery and orthopedics, the hospital created the South Carolina Spine Center and the South Carolina Joint Center. Both offer nurse navigators to guide patients through each step of the surgical process, and both are supported by the coordinated efforts of multispecialty care teams and services that provide patients having spinal surgery or total hip or knee replacement a comprehensive program for optimal success. The centers offer education programs, detailed patient guidebooks, and the hospital’s patient tower has designated post-surgical suites for both spine and orthopedic surgery patients.

The spine surgery program, rated among the top in the nation for medical excellence by CareChex® in 2011–2014, is supported by the first-in-theSouth intraoperative BrainSuite.® This advanced neurosurgical program is one of just four in the country. Other new and updated services include 64-slice CT, PET CT, 3-D vascular imaging, and a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The hospital also added a new Inpatient Rehabilitation Department, expanded the operating rooms, and remolded the Radiology and Dialysis departments in 2010 and 2011. In 2013, Self Medical Group, the not-for-profit physician affiliate of Self Regional Healthcare, expanded in Laurens County with Self Medical Center Laurens, which features three physician practices and other outpatient medical services. Self Medical Center Laurens is a patient-centered design that allows more privacy for patients and interaction between caregivers.

The years since have seen the rapid growth of Self Medical Group. In less than four years, this network of primary care, specialty care and hospital based practices has grown from a single practice to more than 20 and includes more than 100 physicians with the integration of Piedmont Health Group, Lakelands Orthopaedic, Carolina Neurosurgery, Carolina Vascular Institute, and Piedmont Cardiology Associates. Self Medical Group, providing more people with streamlined access to advanced services at Self Regional, the area’s largest healthcare provider.

In 2015 Self Regional Healthcare committed to investing $43.8 million in Epic Software over a five year period. Epic is an integrated system for managing medical records and all other aspects of patient care, business, and clinical systems. The system also allows for the exchange of patient information across all continuums of their care. Epic also has the ability to exchange patient information with additional health- care organizations that utilize Epic (such as GHS and MUSC) further expanding the accessibility of necessary medical information.

In December of 2015, the Boards of Self Regional Healthcare and Edgefield County Hospital announced an Affiliation Agreement designed to enhance and improve healthcare services available in Edgefield County collaboratively. The agreement establishes a long-term, relationship between Self Regional Healthcare and Edgefield County Hospital that is focused on community health and patient care services. This affiliation will enhance the availability of primary care and specialty care physicians as well as other healthcare services to Edgefield County.

Full scale demolition for the East Patient Tower began fall 2016 after several East Tower facilities relocated to the West Tower. Respiratory Therapy moved in spring of 2016; and the pharmacy moved in October of 2016. These renovations give better access to wings of the hospital for the physicians and patients, resulting in more efficient service for the Lakelands community.

2018 and 2019 saw enormous strides in the Foundation’s Our Vision is 2020 campaign. This campaign was launched to fund renovations to Self Regional Healthcare’s Childbirth Center, Ambulatory Care Center, and Emergency Department. The Childbirth Center and Ambulatory Care Center renovations were completed in 2019 and the Emergency Department work begins in 2020 and 2021.

In March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began and Self Regional quickly adapted to address the public health crisis and continue meeting the healthcare needs of our community and the safety and well-being of our team members. SRH nimbly shifted approximately 300 team members to home offices, quickly stood up COVID testing and vaccination operations, launched one of the first monoclonal antibody infusion programs in SC, and launched Drive-Through Services and Virtual Care Services.

In 2021 Self President and CEO, Jim Pfeiffer retired, and after a thorough executive search, Dr. Matt Logan was appointed the new President and CEO.