By
|
The Tampa Tribune
Published: November 14, 2012
Updated: November 14, 2012 - 12:00 AM
John Harding, president of Florida Hospital Tampa, says it is his job to enhance services and patient care at the only full-service health care provider in northeast Tampa.
In the two years since University Community Health joined the Florida Hospital network, the hospital formerly known as University Community Hospital has been brimming with patients, he says.
"We have had a bottleneck at our front door," Harding said.
To meet patient needs, Florida Hospital officials are investing $53 million to expand the 475-bed hospital, add state-of-the-art medical equipment and create 275 full- and part-time jobs within a year.
"Florida Hospital Tampa is on the move again," Harding said Nov. 2 at a news conference before a groundbreaking ceremony on the north side of the hospital at 3100 E. Fletcher Ave.
The event marked the beginning of three major construction projects at the medical center across Fletcher Avenue from the University of South Florida.
By the end of 2013, the hospital is expected to complete a 54,000-square-foot addition, which includes adding a full-service emergency department and expanding the Women's Center. Interior and exterior improvements are scheduled to wrap up by spring 2014.
Florida Hospital is the flagship company of Central Florida-based Adventist Health System. The network last month opened Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, a community-focused medical center adjacent to the Shops at Wiregrass, to serve increasing health care needs in burgeoning Wesley Chapel and New Tampa.
When construction at Florida Hospital Tampa is completed, the hospital's existing emergency department will move from the southeast corner of the hospital to renovated space on the north side of the complex near 138th Avenue.
The Tampa campus will have equipment similar to its new sister hospital in Wesley Chapel.
The new, 42,500-square-foot, full-service emergency department is designed to improve patient flow, said Charles W. Cole Jr., president of Hunton Brady Architects, the Orlando-based firm that designed the project. It will feature a streamlined flow of patients through the emergency room, with imaging equipment, nurses, and emergency room physicians on site 24 hours a day.
Forty-eight private ER suites will have lighting that can be customized to each patient's preference, he said. With a tap on a touch screen, the room can be flooded with soft blue light and images of dolphins swimming on the walls ? or purple light with a rainforest scene, or cartoons for kids.
There will be a covered ambulance bay, and plans are under way for an expansion to include 22 treatment rooms.
Improvements to the Women's Center will include a new 12,000-square-foot lobby and first floor that includes a covered entrance and patient drop-off area. The center will have a chapel, library, gift shop, Internet caf? and coffee shop, conference rooms, security-monitored elevators and security check-in for all patients.
The Women's Center, which is equipped to serve women of all ages, including expectant moms, should open by summer, Harding said.
Exterior upgrades will include a new roof, installation of hurricane-resistant windows, landscaping, and a paint job to create a uniform look for all buildings on the campus. The interior will have new flooring, a fresh coat of paint, new air-conditioning units and new window coverings.
The hospital will remain fully operational during construction.
Adventist is a not-for-profit statewide health care network of 22 hospitals, including a division of Tampa area hospitals.
In addition to the hospitals on Fletcher Avenue and in Wesley Chapel, the Altamonte Springs health care organization owns Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute, also on East Fletcher Avenue; Florida Hospital Carrollwood on North Dale Mabry Highway; Florida Hospital Zephyrhills; Florida Hospital Connerton, a long-term acute care center in Land O'Lakes; and Florida Hospital North Pinellas in Tarpon Springs.
Ed Hochuli Opie modern family george strait how i met your mother sons of anarchy PNC Bank
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.