New emergency room coming to Mandarin

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Ground-breaking on a new emergency room in Jacksonville is set to start early next year. Memorial Hospital will soon be building a new ER that will make getting emergency care more convenient for people in the Mandarin area.

It will be built near the intersection of I-295 and San Jose Boulevard. The new ER will replace the Mandarin Mill mini-golf center. The hospital purchased the property for $2 million.

The new facility will be 10,000 square feet. It will be a free-standing emergency room- meaning it won't be attached to a hospital. It will offer all medical treatment you would expect to get at any ER.

"We're really excited about this. I think the Mandarin location is going to be a very good location. It's gonna help serve that community," said Jim O'Loughlin, Memorial Hospital CEO.

O'Loughlin says the ER will be open 24 hours to patients and will serve adults and children.

"This will be a fully-staffed and a fully-equipped emergency department very similar to what we have at the main hospital. So we'll have advanced imaging services, lab services. If there is a need to transport someone to the hospital we'll have emergency ambulance services and EMS personal there. So it will be a fully-operational emergency department," said O'Loughlin.

Memorial Hospital's main location is located on University Boulevard South near Beach Boulevard. The hospital already has one free-standing ER near Atlantic Boulevard and Kernan Boulevard.

The other is located in Julington Creek. The new ER in Mandarin will be Memorial Hospital's third free-standing ER.

People in the Mandarin-area believe the hospital will be more convenient.

"That would be a good thing. Because the closer it is the better it would be for them-instead of them having to drive a long ways away," said Henry Taylor.

Memorial's CEO says there are also other benefits with the free-standing ERs. He says there are higher patient satisfaction ratings and shorter wait times.

The new ER is expected to serve thousands of people a year. Construction is expected to be complete in late 2016.​