Leaders of FirstHealth of the Carolinas joined Pinehurst Surgical in marking the occasion for the 131,400-square-foot office building on Memorial Drive. It is across from the entrance of the hospital on land between the FirstHealth Child Development Center and the Center for Health and Fitness.
The larger office building will allow Pinehurst Surgical to add 10 more surgeons in the years come.
Ten years ago, Bill Edsel, CEO of Pinehurst Surgical, foresaw what is coming to pass when he suggested in an internal memo that the 28-doctor practice could build or lease a new building from the hospital on a new campus for its future growth and expansion.
He also suggested back in 1995 that a parking deck could be built to serve the expanded office, possibly to be shared with FirstHealth at Moore Regional Hospital.
“This will be the fourth facility...for Pinehurst Surgical,” said Dr. William M. Johnstone Jr., president of Pinehurst Surgical, in welcoming community and medical leaders. He also praised Edsel for the foresight.
Pinehurst Surgical is leasing the land from FirstHealth for its new facility. A parking garage is also part of the first phase of the new FirstVillage development.
Pinehurst Surgical Clinic, as it was called then, started in 1946, founded by Drs. Clement Monroe, Michael Pishko and William Hollister. Dr. Charles Phillips became the fourth in 1954. Phillips is the only one still living and attended the groundbreaking.
They had the foresight to recruit specialists, and the clinic has grown from three doctors to 28 currently, and an anticipated 30 by the time it moves to the new location, Johnstone said.
The facility will serve the patients from initial examinations and diagnostic processes through treatment and specialty surgeries to post-surgical care. The additional physicians and enhanced services, including new and expanded ancillaries, are expected to contribute 20 percent growth to its revenues, and an 8-12 percent increase in the financial bottom line within five years, according to a news release.
The 59-year-old clinic was first located in a small addition to the hospital building on the ground floor at 155 Memorial Drive until 1957, when it moved to the Pinehurst Professional Center across Page Road, where it remained 20 years.
In 1978, the growing clinic moved to its current facility at 35 Memorial Drive on the same block of land as the hospital itself. It has been here for 30 years, and last year agreed to move onto the site of FirstVillage to provide more room for growth.
Pinehurst Surgical’s directors at one time considered constructing its new offices on U.S. 15-501 in Southern Pines across fom Pinecrest High School. But in the end, the close proximity to the hospital led to the decision to build on Memorial Drive.
“Our only option was to build at FirstVillage,” Johnstone said. “There is no more virgin medical property to build upon. So now we have the ability to expand and will be the anchor tenant at FirstVillage,” he said.
Johnstone invited the crowd, tongue-in-cheek, to the clinic’s 100th anniversary to be celebrated in 2046 when a time capsule will be opened.
FirstHealth president and CEO Charles Frock, who has been at FirstHealth since 1991 and CEO of health care systems for 28 years, congratulated Pinehurst Surgical for playing a leading role in developing the medical complex and making this area a regional leader in medicine, drawing patients from surrounding counties.
FirstHealth is acquiring the old Surgical Clinic building and will move some of its own operations there when the clinic vacates the premises.
Frock said that through the years, Pinehurst Surgical Clinic had provided “leadership, vision and execution,” through having “great physicians” and providing the knowledge and leadership.
“Vision has come through Pinehurst Surgical Clinic being in the forefront of thinking about the future and new developments,” Frock said. “We’re glad you’re part of FirstVillage.”
Pinehurst Mayor Steven Smith said it’s a “genuine pleasure and honor to represent” the Village Council at the ceremony.
“We’re glad the Surgical Center is remaining in Pinehurst, and we recognize your contribution to the quality of life in Pinehurst,” he said.
Pinehurst Surgical has specialists in the fields of orthopedics, urology, OB-GYN, neurosurgery, vascular surgery, general surgery, bariatric surgery and cardiac and thoracic surgery, audiology, ear, nost and throat, and facial plastics. It also has general x-ray, bone density, ultrasound, CT, MRI, mammography, clinical lab, EKG, cytoscopy and other diagnostics to be added later.
Other speakers included state Sen. Harris Blake, a Pinehurst Republican, who stood in for Rep. Richard Morgan. Morgan was in Raleigh on pressing legislative business, and could not attend, according to Blake.
Also on the program were attorney John May, chairman of the FirstHealth of the Carolinas Board of Directors, and Dr. John Monroe, recently retired from a 32-year career with the Pinehurst Surgical Clinic and currently a board member emeritus of the Surgical Clinic. Monroe is also the nephew of Dr. Clement Monroe.
Other guests included County Commissioner Tim Lea and Elyse Hillegass, president of the Moore County Chamber of Commerce.
