In order to better serve more surgery patients, South Florida Baptist Hospital has been undergoing an operation itself since March 2014, and the project is almost complete.
The addition covers more than 6,000 square feet at the corner of Alexander Street and Reynolds Street, in a space that used to be a parking area. More patients than ever before will be able to stay close to home for their surgical operations and recovery.
“Certainly our goal as a hospital is to keep patients in Plant City,” Hospital President Karen Kerr said.
The hospital could not stop using its existing surgery center while under construction, so the project has been tackled in phases.
The new waiting room has been open for a few months. It is more spacious than the old waiting room and has large windows. Digital screens show patients’ progress during and after operations. And, a conjoined patio area allows visitors to get some fresh air while waiting for their loved ones.
“We’ve had people responding very positively to how open and nice the new waiting room is,” Jim LeHeup, manager of operations, said.
The old waiting room will be turned into cubicle office space for hospital employees.
But, the biggest and final phase of the expansion is the surgery center itself. Within the first quarter of 2015, the hospital will be able to serve patients in two new operating rooms.
LeHeup said the new operations area will be an improvement even from the existing wing, which has been highly praised by patients and staff.
“Our OR has continued to have some of the highest patient satisfaction scores in Bay Care,” LeHeup said.
When all seven operating rooms are finished and functional, OR-1 will be the largest, covering 700 square feet. It will be home to the hospital’s da Vinci Robot, used in various surgical procedures. Hospital staff had difficulty moving this large piece of equipment into and out of the smaller operating rooms in the past, but with more space, it can stay in one place.
Robotic surgery is highly precise and puts the body through less trauma than traditional surgery, according to South Florida Baptist Hospital’s website. It can also lead to shorter hospital stays and recovery times. The robot is used for operations related to urology, gynecology, some cancers and more.
In anticipation of the new operating rooms being available, the hospital has begun to integrate additional specialists, such as new ENTs and a group of urologists.
“We’re in the process of looking for some additional OBGYN specialists, as well,” Kerr said.
There also will be a new recovery room with five additional beds that offer patients more privacy than the layout of the old recovery room.
“As it was, it was just cubicles, but now there’s private space,” LeHeup said.
BY THE NUMBERS
2: Number of new operating rooms
5: Number of beds in the new recovery room
12%: Overall surgical volume growth after the expansion
6,300: The expansion’s area in square feet
$5,800,000: Cost of the project
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.