Cone Health, a healthcare network in central North Carolina, has been approved  to move forward with construction of a new hospital in the city of Mebane that is scheduled to open in 2029. 

The new hospital will be a full-service facility holding 46 beds adjacent to Cone Health MedCenter Mebane.

Alamance Regional Medical Center President Chad Boore said the 161,578 square foot facility will have three general operating rooms, one cesarean section operating room, a rehabilitation space, an emergency room, and imaging, ancillary and support services. 

“This is just an amazing opportunity for us to improve access to care,” Boore said. 

When the new facility is operational, it will be Boore’s job to ensure both patients and staff have a quality experience.

Cone Health chose the location of the new hospital based on the growing population of Alamance County. 

“Mebane was the best location for us to consider,” Boore said. “It really was just a natural place to build new because of the growth in the county and the growth of that area.”

He said the success of the Mebane MedCenter over the past 17 years was another reason the location was chosen. 

“Given the growth of the population and the collaboration we already have with that community and the community leaders, from our MedCenter being there,” Boore said.

According to Boore, the new hospital means quality of life in Mebane can be improved. 

“Access to care is really so crucial to people's quality of life,” Boore said. 

He says Cone Health’s focus on “value based care” can make all the difference.

“Get to them sooner in their health challenges, in their disease processes, maybe get them well quicker, like I said, meet them where they are, and ultimately drive down the cost of care by doing that,” Boore said. 

The new hospital aims to bring more services into what Boore referred to as one of the fastest growing areas in North Carolina.

“It really is a great opportunity, both for Cone Health as well as for the greater Mebane area,” Boore said. 

That impact hits particularly close to home for Mebane resident, Katie Burkholder.

“This hospital would be literally a ten-minute walk from my house, it's a two-minute drive,” Burkholder said.

Burkholder is a longtime resident of Mebane and has raised her children in the area since they were born. Especially before the MedCenter opened, she would have to drive over 20 minutes to get to the closest hospital in Burlington if she had an emergency.

“When my oldest son was three years old, he fell and needed stitches,” Burkholder said. “I had to take him and his newborn brother to a far away emergency room.” 

According to Burkholder, having to make that drive can be especially difficult with young kids. 

She said she’s seen the positive impact of having a nearby hospital from her parents, who live in Jamestown. 

“My dad had a heart attack a few years ago, and my mom took him to an emergency room in the High Point area, and they very quickly assessed that he needed to go to the big Cone hospital,” Burkholder said. “That enabled them, number one, to get to an ER within ten minutes of their home very quickly, it allowed the hospital to triage him faster, right and then move him into the main hospital, where he was able to see surgeons and specialists and all that.”

She said the close proximity can make all the difference in an emergency. 

“My personal experience, because of that, made me excited to hear that Cone would be putting a hospital in and that it has been approved to put a hospital near us,” Burkholder said. 

Before she found out about the hospital, Burkholder was hesitant to move her father-in-law closer to them, because there wasn’t a close hospital. But now, she’s able to make that a possibility again. 

“My husband's mom passed away over the summer and we are now looking to see if we should encourage my father-in-law to move closer to us. One hesitation has always been, ‘Well you don't have a hospital that's super close to you’ and he's had health issues in the past,” Burkholder said. 

Before she found out about the hospital, Burkholder was hesitant to move her father-in-law closer to them. But now, she’s able to make that a possibility again. 

“But we would really like to encourage him to move closer to us, now being able to say, ‘Hey, we're gonna have a hospital literally across the street from the grocery store we shop at’ I think it’s gonna give a lot of peace of mind to my my husband’s siblings in addition to my father-in-law to consider moving closer to us.”

Burkholder also said a new hospital is a key point to helping continue the growth of the Mebane community.

The new hospital is set to open in 2029.