FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. — Baptist Health has filed a letter of intent to build a new hospital with up to 100 acute-care beds on its campus in Clay County to complement its emergency room there.
“Not a day goes by where a resident doesn’t approach me and say ‘Mr. Roark, when are we going to have hospital beds so we don’t have to leave the county to receive Baptist services?'” said David Roark, an administrator at Baptist Clay Medical Campus.
Currently, patients who need longer-term care have to go to Orange Park, Middleburg or all the way to Jacksonville.
Roark said it’s Baptist Health's obligation to fix that inconvenience.
“This is our response to the community. We’re reaching out to the state to let them know there’s a need for hospital beds here,” Roark said.
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Fleming Island’s ER sees about 70 patients a day, with no sign of slowing down.
If approved, the new hospital would be located on the 32-acre campus and would enhance existing services.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to break ground and give the residents what they’re asking for, which is an acute-care facility here on Fleming Island,” Roark said.
The next step an application, which is due in October. Baptist should have an answer from the state by December.
If officials say yes, groundbreaking would begin shortly after that.
If approved, Baptist will fund the construction and operation of the new hospital. Taxpayers won't pay for any of it.
WJAX
