With a new owner and a new name, change has been a constant for Bayfront Health Dade City.
But while some may say too much change is bad, Shauna McKinnon knows that what the Dade City hospital has experienced in recent months will only make it better. And that includes planned major changes coming up this winter.
(Courtesy of Bayfront Health Dade City)
McKinnon, who has led the hospital as its chief executive since January 2013, has been making stops around the community sharing news of a $3 million expansion planned to start later this year that will expand the five existing operating rooms, and make some much-needed updates to the pre-operation area and recovery rooms as well.
“We have five rooms there right now, but they are quite small,” McKinnon said. “Everything in the medical field evolves over time, and it creates more of a demand for space. We’re simply responding to that demand.”
The renovation and expansion could take close to a year to complete, but McKinnon is not anticipating any interruptions in service. Enough space will still be made available during construction to keep surgeries going, and the hope is that seeing contractors will build excitement instead of creating any inconvenience at the 13100 Fort King Road facility.
Renovating the surgical areas was next on McKinnon’s list once a $3.5 million expansion of the hospital’s emergency room was completed in 2012. McKinnon, however, didn’t lay out the plans with her parent company until after Community Health Systems Inc. completed its $7.6 billion buyout of previous hospital owner Health Management Associates last year.
“When I talked to them about it, they agreed that we need to be able to respond to the needs of our community and our patients,” McKinnon said. “We had a huge expansion of our ER a couple years ago, and the OR was the next obvious step.”
For McKinnon, it’s hard to believe sometimes how much has happened to the 120-bed hospital in just the past year, with the new name, new owners and expansion. But one thing she’s been proud of is how the community has embraced those changes, especially putting “Dade City” back in the hospital’s name for the first time since the 1990s.
“One of the benefits that we have in going through a rebranding is to be able to retain the name which the hospital has been recognized for in the community,” McKinnon said. “Lending ourselves to the Bayfront name in brand recognition has been wonderful. And to be able to retain the name Dade City was very welcomed by our community.”
Upgrades to the surgical units won’t finish McKinnon’s wish list for future improvements. There is still a lot more she’s looking to do to help Bayfront Health Dade City keep up with the ever-changing medical environment.
“We already have a lot of ongoing projects, like the redesign of our patient rooms, and the redesign of our orthopedic joint center,” she said. “We need to be prepared for more growth and how we’re going to respond to that. And because we care about our patients and the community, we’re prepared.”
Published July 23, 2014
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