By Matt Mauney | Associate Editor
Brandon Regional Hospital will expand its presence in Plant City when it opens its new emergency care center at the end of the month off James L. Redman Parkway.
Licensed under Brandon Regional Hospital, the center is a full-service emergency department with 24-hour, 365-day care, including the staffing of a board-certified emergency room physician.
“We will take all comers, and they will receive the same emergency-room care as if they came over to Brandon Regional Hospital,” said CEO Bland Eng.
The center will provide treatment for all illnesses and injuries, including diagnostic imaging and lab services. The center also will provide more intensive services, including open-heart surgery, interventional cardiology, stroke care and neurosurgery, among others.
Brandon Regional Hospital will bring its award-winning care to Plant City with the new center, including its three-star accreditation for excellence in cardiac surgery, the highest award given by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. An accredited chest-pain center, a certified primary stroke center and an award-winning bariatric center, also will be accessible through the new emergency center.
Plans for the center began two years ago, after an assessment identified needs to expand care. Eng noted that free-standing emergency departments are not new in the state, with one notable example coming from Sarasota Memorial Hospital, which has an emergency center in the North Port area.
“The idea is to provide patients with access to health care,” Eng said.
According to Eng, many of Brandon Regional Hospital’s patients outside the city come from the west, with a large influx from Plant City.
“We’ve been receiving patients from the Plant City area already, so this was an opportunity for us to allow patients to have closer access then having to travel into Brandon,” Eng said.
The center will include 40 full-time employees, some of whom are new and have been going through orientation in Brandon. According to Eng, about 15 of the 40 employees are Plant City residents who will be transferring from the Brandon location.
“That includes everything from nurses to lab and even a security guard,” Eng explained.
With the center licensed under Brandon Regional Medical Center, the same administrative staff will oversee operations at the Plant City location.
The emergency center will hold a community open house from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 22. Community members will be able to tour the new facility and meet the staff.
For more information, visit plantcityer.com.
Contact Matt Mauney at mmauney@plantcityobserver.com.
Brandon Regional Hospital Emergency Center
ADDRESS: 3065 James L. Redman Parkway
OPEN HOUSE: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 22
OPENING: Late September/early October
OFFERED CARE: 24-hour emergency care, including a certified emergency-room physician on staff at all times.
SPECIALTIES: Neurology, heart and stroke, among others.
WEBSITE: plantcityer.comseo-