Hilton Head Regional Healthcare (HHRH) has been serving the Lowcountry for 48 years and takes pride in offering a distinguished family of nurses, doctors, staff and volunteers to care for the families of this community.
“This is our home, too,” Kelli Edwards, business development manager at HHRH said. “Caring, nurturing and helping to heal friends, loved ones and neighbors is our passion, and we’re honored to have the opportunity to serve our community.”
Hilton Head Regional Healthcare provides an array of services including emergency, cardiology (including an open heart program), orthopedic and spine care, advanced stroke treatment, obstetrics, urology and more. The professionals at HHRH are focused on providing expert care along with a healthy dose of attentiveness and support. To that end, HHRH is introducing several new providers, services, and technology to the Lowcountry over the next few months and is excited to share the news with their patients, friends, and neighbors.
Dr. Steven Thies and the Da Vinci Robot at Coastal Carolina Hospital
“I want to highlight our continued commitment to Beaufort County, Jasper County, and the surrounding communities we serve,” Joel Taylor, CEO of Hilton Head Hospital said. “If you look at the investment that we as a health system have made in just the last 12 months, it’s a substantial expansion to the breadth of services we offer. We have brought in seven new physicians over the last year to serve this wonderful and growing area.”
HHRH has expanded Women’s Services with the additions of Dr. Shelby Griffith and Dr. Jo Ann Csakany to Riverside Women’s Care, both OB/GYN physicians. Dr. Griffith is joining Riverside Women’s care as an office-based and hospital-based provider. Dr. Csakany was previously in the area and has now returned to join Riverside Women’s Care as a hospital-based OB/GYN physician.
The expansion of Cardiology Services includes the addition of Dr. John Perry (cardio-thoracic surgeon) to Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Associates and Dr. Timothy Alikakos (interventional cardiologist), Steve Pearce (APRN), and Erin Sullivan (APRN) to Hilton Head Heart. Additional expansion of cardiology care includes new technology to support electrophysiology, which allows for growth of cardiac ablation procedures, and Watchman program. Watchman is a minimally invasive procedure to treat A-fib.
Other service expansion includes the addition of Dr. Steven Thies (general surgeon) to Southern Surgery Specialists, and Dr. Christopher Culpepper (general surgeon) to Hilton Head General & Laparoscopic Surgery. Primary Care Services have also expanded with Dr. Kayo Perley joining Medical Associates of the Lowcountry.
Dr. Timothy Alikakos, Dr. Kayo Perley and Dr. Christopher Culpepper.
Hilton Head Regional Healthcare is also excited to announce the expansion of Orthopedic Services in 2024. HHRH will be adding multiple orthopedic sub-specialties including Dr. Ted Samaddar (hand & wrist specialist), Dr. John Prather (foot and ankle specialist), Dr. Trey Ochsner (sports medicine), Dr. Evan Siegall (pediatric orthopedics), and Dr. Robert Dow Hoffman (shoulder & knee specialist).
Technology is another sign of the growth and commitment at HHRH. In addition to a new operating room at Coastal Carolina Hospital, the facility has purchased a second Da Vinci Robot (a $2 million investment) that arrived in November, giving surgeons additional access to robotic assisted, minimally invasive surgeries. Patients will benefit by enjoying quicker recovery time, shorter hospital stays, and less pain.
“We have had a Da Vinci Robot at Coastal Carolina Hospital since 2014,” Edwards said. “In fact, earlier this year, we hit our three-thousandth robotic surgery case. So, adding a second one to further expand the services to our patients is quite exciting.”
“We are in the process of building another operating room set to open in the summer of 2024,” Ryan Lee, CEO of Coastal Carolina Hospital said. “We are really excited about it because it allows us bandwidth to continue to recruit top quality surgeons to our area.” The new operating room will be the fourth at Coastal Carolina Hospital, and with the inclusion of additional staffing, facilities, and other advancements, this is a $7 million self-funded investment by the hospital. This OR expansion along with a second da Vinci surgical system will allow for expansion of minimally invasive robotic services which will now include thoracic procedures to be performed by Dr. John Perry.
HHRH Imaging Services are also expanding. Diagnostic Imaging Services (including diagnostic mammogram) will now be offered on Hilton Head at Hilton Head Hospital, a service formerly only available in Bluffton.
The expansion of both staff and facilities underscores the HHRH commitment to providing comprehensive services in the areas in which they have traditionally performed exceptionally well. “We are committed to bringing high quality positions to our community as one of our main focuses for the future,” Lee said.
“Beyond creating new positions, we are doing some creative recruitment,” Taylor said. “We’re offering sign-on bonuses like never before, we’re increasing pay rates, and really investing in the best physicians and staff we can find. For example, we now have a loft at Coligny Beach that we are offering to full-time clinical staff, which is something unique. It’s an exciting and dynamic environment, and I’m proud of our team that we continue to attract the best and brightest.”
Comprised of Coastal Carolina Hospital, Hilton Head Hospital, the Bluffton Medical Campus, the Bluffton Okatie Outpatient Center and the Tidewatch Emergency Department, Hilton Head Regional Healthcare is dedicated to providing our local community and visitors with compassionate, quality, extraordinary care close to home.
