Novant Health will open a new infusion center in Burgaw to increase access to care closer to home for residents of Pender County.
Patients can benefit from outpatient IV medication infusion for a number of conditions, including anemia, asthma, heart failure, inflammatory bowel disease, migraine, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
“Patients across Pender County regularly travel into Wilmington for infusion therapy," said Ruth Glaser, president of Novant Health Pender Medical Center, which hosts the standalone center on its Burgaw campus. “We know individuals and their family members will appreciate having this needed care available closer to home to cut unnecessary travel time.”
After the outpatient center fully opens in January, Novant Health Infusion - Pender Medical Center will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Initially operating with four infusion bays, the center has the space to expand in the future as needed.
The new center is part of Novant Health’s $50 million commitment over the next 10 years to modernize the hospital and expand access to care in Pender County. A central goal is to grow services to reduce disparities and promote convenient access to care. Already, a full-time hospitalist has joined the facility and recruitment efforts are underway for a second physician also focusing on inpatient care.
The 25-bed Pender Medical Center offers a range of services, including emergency care, surgery and imaging.
Facility leaders are also planning other ways to expand services available at the hospital, where an ongoing renovation project is nearing completion. As part of these efforts, Pender Medical Center will repurpose the previous skilled nursing unit to prioritize acute care and other services while continuing to offer short-term rehabilitation.
“We are evaluating our options to keep the licensed skilled nursing beds in Pender County,” Glaser said. “This will preserve this service within our community, while allowing us to focus on vital expansions in hospital-based health care services to reduce the need for patients to travel for care.”
To boost rural medicine in Pender County, Novant Health is also planning a new rural track of our family medicine residency program in partnership with UNC School of Medicine and Black River Health Services.
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