Staff, administration, EMS and emergency management officials, friends and past and present patients officially welcomed Vidant Beaufort Hospital’s new emergency department Thursday evening.

Pam Shadle, Vidant Beaufort’s director of marketing and community outreach and development, emceed the ceremony leading up to a ribbon cutting on the new 9,000-square-foot facility — phase 1 of a two-phase project that also includes a 3,500-square-foot renovation of the existing emergency department, state of the art equipment and the addition of four more rooms to the facility, according to Shadle.

Joining Shadle in the official introduction of the facility to the public were Vidant Beaufort President Harvey Case, Bishop James McIntyre Sr., senior pastor of Cornerstone Family Worship Center, Dr. Anthony Frank and William Taylor, area vice president and senior executive of First Bank.

Following a prayer and dedication by McIntyre, Case’s and Frank’s addresses about the importance of the new facility for not only Beaufort County residents, but those outside the county lines, and the efforts made to make the dream of a new ED a reality, and an entertaining speech by Taylor, representing the community perspective of Vidant Beaufort’s role in Beaufort County, all those in attendance were invited to a reception and tour of the facility.

The $17 million ED is the latest addition to a $40 million investment Vidant Health has made in the county, according to Shadle.

The new department will open mid-September.