B.C. Manion

Hundreds of construction workers are busy building BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel, at 4501 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., in Wesley Chapel.

The new 86-bed hospital is expected to open in Spring 2023, and when it does, it will create additional medical options within Pasco County, as well as more jobs.

Becky Schulkowski, the hospital’s president, is pleased with the $246 million project’s progress to date.

“We are on budget. We are on schedule,” Schulkowski said, during a recent hard-hat tour of the construction site, on the 40-plus acre campus.

The hospital is fortunate because it hasn’t been besieged by construction cost escalations and supply chain issues, the hospital leader said.

“We were just basically on the crest of that wave,” she said.

“All of our pricing was honored. I have one item that we have identified as a delay in shipment,” she said, but noted that that will arrive well before the hospital opens.

“We did have a shipment of tile that got stuck on a ship at the Port of Miami for a couple of months,” she said, but that has arrived.

When BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel opens, it will offer comprehensive medical services and health care resources including an emergency department, an intensive care unit with virtual-monitoring beds, diagnostic services such as imaging and lab, and physical rehabilitation.

Right now, there are about 300 construction workers plying their skills at the site. The hospital is expected to begin operations with about 250 employees, and to increase up to 275 by the second year..

BayCare chose to open a hospital in Wesley Chapel because it’s an obviously growing area — and where there are people, there are healthcare needs, Schulkowski said.

“We wanted to meet that need. We’re bringing the BayCare values to the community. Every person who walks through our doors is treated with respect, dignity, trust,” the hospital president said. ““So, really, it is those values that we bring to every interaction.”

The BayCare experience won’t be a new one for many of the Wesley Chapel hospital’s patients or team members, Schulkowski said.

BayCare patients living in the Wesley Chapel area now travel to St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in Lutz, or to St. Joseph’s main campus in Tampa.

“We want to bring the care they’re already looking for, with BayCare, because they know and trust us,” she said. “We’re bringing it closer to home.”

BayCare also has team members who live in the Wesley Chapel area, but work in Lutz or Tampa.

She expects some of them to transfer to the new Wesley Chapel hospital.

“A shorter commute is a big deal and they get to stay within BayCare. So, we do expect that,” the hospital leader said.

Setting a new hospital’s tone
Finding the best people to staff the hospital will be challenging — particularly at a time when there are significant shortages in the healthcare field, Schulkowski said.

But she is optimistic that some of BayCare’s current team will want to work on her campus and that others may be attracted by the opportunity to help create the new hospital’s culture.

Team members also can provide practical suggestions of how things should be set up. Maybe they have a better idea of how a patient gets from one place to another, or where the crash cart should go, the hospital leader said.

The plans may show one thing, she explained, but there may be a better approach.

Staff will be onboarded well before the hospital’s doors open, to familiarize team members with the building and to gather their input.

“The idea is to make sure everything is smoothed out before the hospital opens,” she said.

She thinks the idea of having that type of involvement will appeal to potential team members.

The hospital already has asked BayCare team members to help in the hospital’s design — incorporating the knowledge they glean from their day-to-day work lives.

For instance, they provided suggestions regarding how patient rooms should be arranged.

Then, a mock patient room was set up to check everything, before the hospital proceeded with setting up other rooms.

Schulkowski is a big believer in seeking out the best ways to get things done.

“If you want to find the safest and most efficient way to do something, ask a nurse,” the hospital leader said.

The hospital chain also learned from the COVID-19 experience, she said.

“Because we were still early in our design when COVID hit, we were able to build in, what we call, pandemic mode in this building,” she said.

The new hospital has the capability of turning 42 of its rooms into negative rooms, meaning those rooms are capable of exhausting 100% of their air.

“Hopefully, we never have to use it,” Schulkowski said, but the facility will be ready, if it does.

The hospital design also features windows to allow in natural light and is planning to have art work on its walls, to create an inviting environment.

Most people don’t want to be in the hospital, Schulkowski said.

The quality of the care is paramount, but the atmosphere of the hospital is important, too, she said.

“We want it to be pleasant, welcoming,” Schulkowski said.

BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel
What: BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel is under construction at  4501 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., in Wesley Chapel
When: Opening is anticipated in the first quarter of 2023
Cost: The project’s estimated cost is $246 million.
Details: The 318,000-square-foot building is being built on a 40-plus acre campus. The hospital will have 86 private rooms and 20 Emergency Room beds. It will offer comprehensive medical services and health care resources, including an emergency department, an intensive care unit with virtual-monitoring beds, diagnostic services such as imaging and lab, and physical rehabilitation. It is expected to have 250 permanent jobs when it opens, increasing to 275 by the second year of operations.
For additional information about job opportunities, visit BayCareJobs.com or Facebook.com/BayCareCareers/.

Published April 06, 2022