Home Care In Fort Mill, SC

FORT MILL — One of the state’s fastest-growing areas didn’t have a hospital before 2022.

By the end of the decade, Fort Mill could have two.

Atrium Health, based in Charlotte, announced Dec. 2 its plans to build a $450 million acute care hospital and medical building featuring 60 beds and 15 emergency bays in Fort Mill. The new hospital, Atrium Health Fort Mill, could be complete by 2029.

That would be seven years after Piedmont Medical Center-Fort Mill opened.

“Atrium Health has recognized a need for additional access to emergency and high acuity care in South Carolina for some time, which has been reinforced by the fact that a high percentage of our patients at Atrium Health Pineville are residents of South Carolina,” the company said in a statement.

Pineville, N.C., borders northern York County, with Atrium Health Pineville located less than four miles from the state line where there are several residential subdivisions in unincorporated Fort Mill.

“We’ve seen how York County’s population has surged and is expected to grow by approximately 18 percent over the next five years,” the Atrium statement continued, “reflecting the region’s rapid growth and health care needs.”

Atrium operates more than a dozen hospitals and medical centers in Charlotte and surrounding areas.

The location has not been identified by Atrium, but in the Dec. 2 presentation to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority Board of Commissioners, hospital officials said the company has land acquired for the construction.

Piedmont officials began planning its Fort Mill hospital in early 2020. They hit the roadblock with the COVID-19 pandemic, but ultimately opened in the late 2022.

The Piedmont expansion took in 22,000 emergency room patients in its first year. The hospital, located at the corner of S.C. Highways 160 and 21 Bypass, was the third Piedmont operation in York County, following its Rock Hill hospital and the free-standing emergency room on Gold Mill Road.

These aren’t the only health care developments happening in the vicinity of Fort Mill.

The Medical University of South Carolina is building a three-story, 62,000-square-foot medical office building and a 52-bed hospital at 9258 Charlotte Highway in Indian Land in northern Lancaster County, another high growth area. It will cost $350 million and is expected to open in 2027.

Next spring, Piedmont expands again a free-standing emergency department in Indian Land.

FORT MILL, S.C. — A Burger King employee on Carowinds Boulevard in Fort Mill said he’s leaving his job after a violent struggle during an armed robbery early Thursday, when a masked suspect held a knife to his back and demanded access to the restaurant’s safe, deputies said.

The armed robbery happened at 6:20 a.m. and the assailant got away with approximately $200, the York County Sheriff’s Office said.

Now, the employee said he is quitting.

The worker, who didn’t want to be identified, said he went to open the restaurant and thinks the robber was already inside.

“I could have been dead. I thought ... I was ... I thought it was over,” he said.

The employee was inside the Burger King starting his day.

“I was making tea, and he came up behind me,” the employee said. “I know I’m the only person in there. “

The suspect came up from behind, put a knife to his back, and demanded the code to the safe, he said.

“I said, ‘I don’t know no code to no safe,’” the victim said. “He said If I don’t get the code to the safe, ‘I’m going to kill you.’”

The Burger King employee broke loose, and said he threw the keys to the register down and ran toward the exit but fell.

He said the suspect dragged him, but the employee eventually escaped.

“I went and hid under a black truck right next to an abandoned building,” he said.

The suspect ran off in an unknown direction, the sheriff said.

The victim went to urgent care for injuries he said he got when he fell trying to run away.

He said the suspect sprayed paint on surveillance cameras. Deputies did not confirm that.

The case is currently under investigation, as authorities work to determine the identity of the suspect.

VIDEO: Shooting at Dollar General in York County deemed self-defense by deputies

All six Rock Hill region school districts are facing enrollment declines, a startling shift in an area that’s seen some of the highest population growth in the state for decades. Yet the most basic reason behind the loss of students suggests it may not last long.

“The explanation for the decline requires you to look back at your calendar five years ago,” said Clover School District spokeswoman Stephanie Knott.

Clover has 8,987 students, according to state enrollment figures published last week. That’s down from 9,038 students last year, despite record high enrollment in the ninth grade and steady numbers in most grades.

The difference is kindergarten, where the district dropped from 586 to 534 students in a year. Kindergarten accounts for the district’s entire drop, plus one fewer student.

“We had a pandemic, and birthrates were down at that time,” Knott said. “That’s why all districts appear to be down in enrollment this year.”

The COVID pandemic year of 2020 clearly impacted birth rates that feed into school enrollment, state vital records show. The question is whether the pandemic hurt or helped.

2020 drop in South Carolina births

South Carolina averaged 57,225 births per year from 2011 to 2019, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Health.

Fewer than 1,500 births separated the highest (2015) and lowest (2018) years. Then, births dropped to 55,713 in 2020. That’s a decrease of more than 1,330 births in a year and the lowest total since 2003.

It’s hard to blame the pandemic on the drop in births.

Health departments and public officials nationwide asked workers to go home in March 2020 in hopes of preventing the spread of COVID — with nine months left in the calendar year. So most babies born in 2020 were the result of pregnancies that began before pandemic lockdowns.

South Carolina births jumped to 57,179 in 2021. The 1,466-birth increase in a year is higher than the drop from 2019 to 2020. Births increased again in 2022, to their highest count since 2015.

It’s impossible to say what trend the state would’ve seen without the pandemic, but an increase in births since reverses what had been a steady drop that began a decade ago.

York County has a trend line that nearly matches the state one, with births dropping from 2,979 in 2019 to a nine-year low 2,860 in 2020. A rebound in 2021 saw 3,063 births, the most since 2007.

Lancaster County births have grown every year from 2019 to 2023, the most recent year listed in state birth records. There were 1,044 in 2020. The 1,234 births in 2023 set a high mark in Lancaster County for the third-straight year.

Chester County saw decreases in births each year from 2019 to 2022, including 342 births in 2020.

School enrollment changes in Rock Hill region

Until this school year, enrollment across the Rock Hill region was predictable.

The Fort Mill, Lancaster County and Clover districts have grown since 2020, when virtual school caused by the pandemic dropped student counts across the country. The pandemic was a blip for those districts that have grown for decades, as population surged in Fort Mill, Indian Land, Lake Wylie and Tega Cay.

York schools have had mostly flat enrollment of about 5,000 students for a decade. Chester County schools dipped in that time, dropping below York in 2017 to become the region’s smallest district. There are now fewer than 4,400 students in Chester County schools.

Apart from a one-year uptick coming out of the pandemic, Rock Hill schools have been on a downward path since 2015.

The district had 17,946 students then. The latest enrollment counts show 15,611 students. Fort Mill, now with 18,124 students, passed Rock Hill as the region’s largest district in 2020.

The school board in Rock Hill heard details last month, including district plans to engage the community to understand why the drop in students is happening.

“This is not sustainable to lose 300, 400 kids a year,” board member Pete Nosal said in October.

Kindergarten impact on school enrollment

Aside from families who “redshirt” children to start school later, the typical Rock Hill region kindergartner this year was born in the last four months of 2019 or the first eight months of 2020.

South Carolina has 1,309 fewer kindergarten students this year compared to last year. They make up 6.7% of public school students.

Overall, South Carolina has 789,086 students. The enrollment drop of 7,694 students in a year spans all public schools, including traditional and charter ones. About 17% of the enrollment decrease comes from having fewer kindergarten students.

Rock Hill region school districts have 185 fewer kindergarten students compared to last year. They have 1,082 fewer total students, mirroring the state mark of 17% for the kindergarten share of enrollment decreases.

Nearly half of the overall enrollment loss in the region’s three fastest-growing districts is a result of fewer kindergartners.

Fort Mill, Lancaster County and Clover schools decreased by a combined 484 students since last year, including 214 fewer kindergarten students. That’s 44% of the total drop.

Rock Hill, York and Chester County schools, meanwhile, added more kindergarten students in that same span. They combine for 29 more kindergarten students this year than last year, with more than half of that increase coming in Rock Hill.

Impacts of enrollment changes

If the 2020 dip in births is responsible for lower enrollment today, then the uptick in following years suggests schools may see more students the next few years.

Enrollment is a critical variable for districts that have to plan classroom space, teacher hiring and per pupil spending. Enrollment also impacts school activities from high school sports to marching band competitions.

The enrollment change since last year is within typical year-to-year fluctuation in Rock Hill, said district spokeswoman Laurabree Monday. Officials in several districts say they’re monitoring the drops for potential impacts, but aren’t concerned with the one-year dip.

“While we track enrollment trends closely, we also remain focused on serving — and celebrating — the more than 15,500 students and families who choose Rock Hill Schools every day,” Monday said.

Atkore Plastics Southeast, operating in Fort Mill as Queen City Plastics, plans to cut 42 jobs next year at its manufacturing facility near Regent Park.

The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice with the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce on Nov. 6. It indicates that the layoffs are expected at the 2650 Bennett Road facility between Jan. 6, 2016, and Sept. 30, 2016.

WARN notices are required when companies with 100 or more workers plan closures or layoffs that impact 50 or more jobs. They apply to smaller companies when a third or more of employees lose jobs.

Queen City Plastics makes PVC pipe including electrical conduit, elbows and fittings, according to the company website. Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Of the 42 jobs that will be lost, 13 are material handlers and 10 are machine operators, according to the WARN notification emailed from the company to the state workforce department.

The jobs are non-union and aren’t subject to bumping rights, according to the company notice. Bumping rights allow senior staff, during layoffs, to take over roles from workers who have less experience.

About Atkore

Atkore International Group acquired Queen City Plastics five years ago. Queen City had about 60 employees and its headquarters is at the Fort Mill site. At the time, Atkore had about 3,900 employees and 66 manufacturing or distribution sites worldwide.

A week after the announcement, Atkore bought the Fort Mill property for $2.7 million, according to York County land records.

Today, Atkore has about 5,600 employees who produce electrical products for commercial, industrial, data center, telecommunications and solar applications, according to recent company announcements. The company is expected to release its fourth quarter financial results Nov. 20.

In late September, Atkore announced it would review operations and look for ways to cut costs to focus on its core electrical infrastructure business like electrical and safety sectors.

The company listed a potential sale of its high-density polyethylene pipe and conduit business serving telecommunications market among a “review of select assets that may not fit” company plans.

Those steps to cut costs include a reduction in workforce and three unnamed manufacturing sites the company identified for consolidation next year, according to the September release.

Rock Hill area layoffs

The latest WARN notice comes in what has been a quiet year for large layoffs in the Rock Hill region.

The only other filing from the area was a July notice by Sodexo for 177 layoffs in Rock Hill, as part of a food vendor change at Winthrop University.

Statewide, there have been 30 site closures, permanent layoff or temporary layoff filings this year. They’ve impacted more than 3,500 workers.