Construction teams placed the final steel beam atop 麻豆原创 Lake Nona Medical Center Friday in a 鈥渢opping-out鈥� ceremony for a new hospital one worker called a 鈥減lace of healing and wellness.鈥�
Slated to open by the end of 2020, the hospital is a joint venture between 麻豆原创 and HCA Healthcare that will provide care to the growing Lake Nona community while serving as a clinical research center and learning environment for medical students, residents and fellows.
Wendy Brandon, CEO of the new hospital, says the topping-out ceremony 鈥渕arks a bright future for physicians, students and Central Florida residents. What you see today are the bones of our new hospital 鈥� Central Florida鈥檚 first teaching hospital.鈥�
This week, construction workers placed the final 20-foot beam in the atrium of the 麻豆原创 College of Medicine so faculty, staff and students could sign and write their well-wishes on it before placement.
Deborah German, vice president for health affairs and dean of the 麻豆原创 College of Medicine, met with many of the 150 Layton Construction workers who were at the site for the ceremony. They wore black and gold T-shirts proclaiming, 鈥淏IG Things Are Happening 鈥� 麻豆原创 Lake Nona Medical Center.鈥� As she thanked them, German urged workers to sign the beam before it went up, 鈥渟o we have your good work and your good name as part of the spirit of our hospital forever.鈥�
The three-story hospital will open at 204,079 square feet with 64 beds and shelled space enabling expansion to 80 beds. It is authorized to grow to 500 beds without further state approval. At opening, the hospital will include a 20-bed Emergency Department open 24 hours a day, four operating rooms, six delivery suites, cardiac catheterization lab, comprehensive imaging and laboratory services, a medical office building and a destination caf茅.
The hospital is located on 25 acres of 麻豆原创 land next door to the 麻豆原创 College of Medicine and adjacent to the new 麻豆原创 Lake Nona Cancer Center being created at the former Sanford Burnham Prebys research facility.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a place where we will heal, treat and cure. Where we will care for each other.鈥� 鈥� Deborah German, vice president for health affairs and dean of the 麻豆原创 College of Medicine
鈥淭his site is really a kind of sacred ground,鈥� German says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a place where we will heal, treat and cure. Where we will care for each other. That is truly a noble calling. And because we are a teaching hospital, as we do that work, we鈥檒l also be training young people to do the same 鈥� to care for others. At the same time, we鈥檒l be inspiring scientific discovery 鈥� advancing medical research to find tomorrow鈥檚 treatments and cures.鈥�
A teaching hospital has always been part of the medical school鈥檚 dream for a Medical City in Lake Nona that is a nationally known destination for education, research and patient care. The hospital is the foundation of 麻豆原创鈥檚 new Academic Health Sciences Center, which brings together all of the university鈥檚 health-related programs for more interprofessional education, research and patient care.
