FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. – The proposed $70 million, 100-bed hospital that Baptist Medical Center hopes to build next to its new standalone emergency room in Fleming Island is just the first of several proposed hospital facilities coming to growing communities around northeast Florida.
"Clay County's a growing community that needs health care," said Darian Roark, of Baptist Clay. "The residents of Clay County have clearly indicated that they want to receive care close to home. They no longer want to have to drive to Jacksonville or Gainesville for their health care needs."
The 100 beds proposed is fewer than Orange Park Medical Center, but a few more than the new St. Vincent's Hospital in Middleburg. It is good news for people who live in Green Cove Springs.
"You would have to go to Orange Park," said Cathy Gallagher. "Some people from Green Cove even go to Baptist South."
With communities in Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties growing, the area's major hospital groups are responding. Baptist's letter of intent for the Fleming Island hospital is likely the first of several that are coming. Baptist is also looking at putting in a facility near the St. Johns Town Center and eventually another one near Dunn Avenue and Interstate 295.
UF Health Jacksonville has its North Campus emergency room in Oceanway and will break ground soon on a 92-bed hospital (pictured below). Memorial Hospital has standalone ERs open in Julington Creek and another one in East Arlington, on Atlantic Boulevard near Kernan Boulevard.
Richard Rogers lives in Middleburg and looks to hospitals like these for his needs.
"It's sometimes hard for me to find my medication, and I found out just recently that hospitals have pharmacies, and sometimes they carry more medications (that) I need," Rogers said.
UF Health said patient visits at its North Campus facility have already exceeded expectations.
"That shows us the need for more health care options in the area, and we believe the hospital will receive a similar reception," said UF Health spokesman Dan Leveton. "We're excited to be a part of the continued growth of the region."
Baptist Clay pointed out that when a number of Fleming Island High School students were injured when a waterslide collapsed in Eagle Harbor last year, its ER was about two minutes away.
"We were having a pretty slow day until we got word that the slide collapsed," Roark said. "We were able to treat those children, stabilize them, and out of the seven or eight we treated, only one needed hospitalization."
The state of Florida must approve these new hospitals. Baptist is hoping that will happen quickly and it can begin construction in the spring and open the facility in 18-24 months.