JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Funding for a new trauma center and emergency room at UF Health’s main campus was approved Tuesday night by Jacksonville City Council.
The Florida-Times-Union confirmed that the city of Jacksonville is setting aside $10 million for the new facility, which will only be paid after the $80 million coming from the state to fund the project has been used.
The trauma center will be named in honor of the hospital’s former CEO, Dr. Leon L. Haley, Jr., who died in a wave runner accident in Palm Beach in 2021.
Haley was UF Health’s first Black CEO. He was also the first person in Jacksonville to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The UF Health Jacksonville Leon L. Haley, Jr. M.D. Trauma Center will be built on the medical center’s campus located on Eighth Street in Downtown Jacksonville.
The center will be better equipped to provide a safer environment for Baker Act patients and others with mental health issues. It is expected to see more than 125,000 patients per year.
The new trauma center will replace the current, outdated and overcrowded trauma center at UF Health Jacksonville to better serve residents of Duval, Nassau, Clay, St. Johns, and other counties in North Florida.
UF Health Jacksonville operates the only Level 1 trauma center in the region, and one of only seven in Florida.
The project is expected to be completed and operational in the next four years.