Slater Drug Co. is more than just a local pharmacy for Slater-Marietta residents.
The unassuming brick building feels almost trapped in history, from its retro pharmacy signs to its full-service soda fountain. But the small storefront on the corner of Pumpkintown Road and Geer Highway became a community’s cornerstone after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When North Greenville Hospital closed its emergency room doors in 2020, Slater Drug Co. and its pharmacist Vassar Livengood acted as an intermediary for residents concerned about receiving medical care when the area’s few healthcare options suddenly shrunk even more.
"If someone gets hurt and is bleeding, it's a long ride to get from here to Greenville Memorial,” Livengood said. “For people up here who are, you know, sick or hurt, it really helped to have that emergency room in Travelers Rest."
Now that Greenville County Council has approved the allocation of federal COVID-19 relief money for Prisma Health to reopen the North Greenville Hospital emergency room, Slater-Marietta residents could soon have that help once again.
With funding approved, North Greenville ER could soon reopen
At its Sept. 6 meeting, Greenville County Council approved just less than $13.5 million for Prisma Health to reopen the North Greenville emergency room. County Administrator Joe Kernell is in the process of negotiating a contract with Prisma to ensure the federal money is used for its intended purposes.
Once that contract is signed, the emergency room could reopen within 100 days, pending approval of the proper licensing, said Prisma spokesperson Sandy Dees in an email to The Greenville News.
Prisma originally presented a plan to the county’s Finance Committee that outlined the expansion of other services at North Greenville Hospital along with reopening the emergency room, but those plans were created under the assumption Prisma would receive $15 million.
It remains unclear how much the $1.5 million deficit will impact Prisma’s plans, but Dees said Prisma is “working through what is possible under this new funding amount."
From 2010 to 2020, the population of Travelers Rest and Slater-Marietta increased by about 20%, according to U.S. Census data.
And the area is expected to continue growing. During a presentation before the county's Finance Committee, Prisma's COO said increased traffic to the emergency room from that expected growth will make North Greenville's emergency room self-sustaining within five years.
Residents hopeful for emergency room’s reopening, wish changes would have come sooner
Jo Slaughter, a Marietta resident, and her husband had both used the North Greenville emergency room before it closed.
An accidental cut with a kitchen knife and a heart attack scare were both treated quickly and close to home.
“It was comforting to have help that close, and that was years ago,” Slaughter said. “Since then, it’s been a little bit nerve-wracking to think about what could happen, especially as we get older.”
Slaughter also said for residents living up near the state line, having an emergency room less than an hour’s drive away would be crucial.
Rebecca Farmer, who lives about five minutes away from North Greenville Hospital, sang the praises of the former emergency room.
Farmer said she received some of the best medical care at the former emergency room and that the level of care diminished when it became an urgent care center. She said the reopened emergency room will be a needed asset for older members of the community.
While Slaughter is grateful for the emergency room’s reopening, she said residents had begun losing hope that it would ever happen because it took County Council members such a long time to get here.
“I think people up here feel like the red-headed stepchild, you know? The one that’s easily ignored,” Slaughter said.
As growth and development in the northern part of the county spread, Slaughter anticipates more attention coming from the county. But, she said, it should not take growth to receive needed resources.
“It’s one thing not having a renovated ball field,” she said, “But not having medical care? That’s bad.”
- Tim Carlin covers county government, growth and development for The Greenville News. Follow him on Twitter @timcarlin_, and get in touch with him at [email protected]. You can support his work by subscribing to The Greenville News at greenvillenews.com/subscribe.
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