Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel is again expanding its services, this time setting up a freestanding emergency department in Land O’ Lakes.
(Courtesy of Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel)
The facility, which is expected to be completed by January of 2018, will bring emergency medical assistance closer to residents of Central Pasco County. The new 18,000-square-foot center will be near the entrance to Bexley, a new community being built off of State Road 54, just east of the Suncoast Parkway in Pasco County.
The facility will offer full-service emergency care, 24 hours a day, and will be staffed by board-certified emergency medicine physicians and nurses that are highly trained in emergency care.
The 24-bed facility also will have state-of-the-art on-site imaging services such as X-ray, ultrasound, CT scans and laboratory services.
Dignitaries gathered at the site for an April 6 formal groundbreaking ceremony.
Speakers included Denyse Bales-Chubb, president and CEO of Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, Pasco County Commission Chairman Mike Moore and Pasco County Fire Chief Timothy Reardon.
“Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel is committed to our mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ,” Bales-Chubb said. “With that mission, we need to make sure that we have emergency services that are convenient to where our community lives and works.
“This facility will provide the same quality care that our patients receive at our main campus,” she said.
Pasco County Commission Chairman Mike Moore enthusiastically welcomed the addition of the new facility to Central Pasco.
“It seems like yesterday that we were just breaking ground at the expansion of the Wesley Chapel Florida Hospital facility,” Moore said. “Here we grow again.”
He called Florida Hospital an extraordinary community partner for residents of Pasco County, a true leader in health and wellness, and a great job creator for the county.
“We’re happy that you decided on Central Pasco at this location,” Moore said. “These off-site emergency rooms, they’re the future. We’re seeing them pop up around the nation.”
The location of the facility allows quality medical care to be within better reach of residents, Moore added.
“I’m excited about the freestanding ERs. It’s something that’s been working throughout the country,” Reardon said.
The new facility gives first responders another avenue of help for patients requiring emergency care.
He also noted the county’s growing needs, as its population increases in general, and there are more Baby Boomers, in particular.
The freestanding emergency room is being constructed by Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, which is off of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, north of State Road 56.
That hospital, which opened in October 2012, recently completed a massive expansion which involved 111, 993 square feet of new construction and 10,834 square feet of renovation.
Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel is part of the Adventist Health System, a not-for-profit health network comprised of 26 hospitals throughout the state.
To find out more about the hospital, visit FHWesleyChapel.org.
Published April 12, 2017
