'A big improvement': South Florida Baptist Hospital shows off its new $326M facility
PLANT CITY – The event was pretty easy to describe for Charles and Patricia Bridges.
“It was nice. It’s a big improvement – it’s very state-of-the-art,” Charles Bridges said.
The Bridgeses of Plant City were just two of more than 1,500 visitors Sunday to the new South Florida Baptist Hospital preview event, a chance for guests and hospital staff to gather and gawk at the 50-acre medical campus, 3202 N. Park Road, off Interstate 4 exit 22.
The new $326 million hospital, part of the BayCare hospital network, will replace the 70-year-old facility on Alexander Street, which opened in 1953. Ground was broken on the new SFBH medical center in October 2021. The hospital is tentatively scheduled to open by mid-May.
By the time the lobby doors were opened at 11 a.m., a queue of more than 100 people were in place, ready for “self-guided tours” of the 146-private room hospital. More than 800 hospital employees and 250 physicians will work at the new facility.
At the preview, SFBH administrators and healthcare workers lined the halls of the 424,000-square-foot facility – including an 85,000-square-foot medical arts building – greeting guests as they walked by and answering questions.
“Hi guys, good morning!” SFBH registration coordinator Tracy Baily said to guests. “You’re walking into what will be the emergency room, right through those double doors.”
The first floor includes the emergency center, with has 28 private patient rooms and two resuscitation rooms; emergency registration; the Heritage Hallway, a tribute to donors and the hospital legacy; cardiac rehabilitation; the rehab gym; the medical arts building; and a chapel.
The visitors also toured the Sweet Life Farms Strawberry Café and guest services.
From there, visitors could go to tour the second floor, seven-suite labor and delivery area, heart and vascular center/cath lab and the operating room and robotic surgery.
Lastly, the fourth floor gave guests a tour of the intensive care unit and medical/surgery patient rooms.
“It’s very good to have this in the community because we do so much locally; you don’t have to travel for high-tech excellence,” Susan Musser, director of surgical services, said to a group of six visiting operating room 2, one of eight in the hospital. “I’m really excited to have this state-of-the-art building to give our superb staff the equipment they need to do their jobs at the highest level of quality.”
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While visitors toured the inside, SFBH staff and care providers had tables set up in the parking lot underneath a tent, offering an array of information sessions and free health screenings, SFBH-related gifts and bins of cold water. Before heading over, the Bridgeses said the new SFBH was “a big improvement” from the former SFBH hospital at Alexander Street, which was just over 250,000 square feet.
“Everything is so modern and there’s still room for expansion,” Charles Bridges said. “This is great for those who need medical attention in the area, and it will also bring a lot more job opportunities.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: BayCare shows off its glistening new $326M facility in Plant City
