HCA Florida Aventura Hospital and HCA Florida Mercy Hospital are in the midst of multiple upgrades and new construction. “We finished one of our brand new cath labs,” said Carolyn Hunter, chief operating officer of the Aventura hospital, “and we have one more that’s set to open in the spring of 2025. We also have finished renovation of our gastroenterology suite, and we have several other large construction projects underway here at the hospital.” Behavioral health is expanding by 20 beds and is to open in the spring, she said. Also slated to open in spring is a new neuro intervascular suite. In the Aventura hospital’s graduate medical education program, Ms. Hunter said, it is now offering an on-site simulation center. Additionally, HCA Florida Oak Grove Emergency is anticipated to break ground this year for an opening in late 2026, said Ms. Hunter. It’s the hospital’s second freestanding emergency room, which is to be in North Miami Beach. HCA Florida Aventura Hospital’s first freestanding emergency room is the HCA Florida Palm Lakes Emergency at 18000 NW 57th Ave., which Ms. Hunter said has filled a gap within the community. “Our Palm Lakes emergency room opened in March 2024,” she said, “and it has had a positive impact on the patients that are in that area. It’s located kind of like the Miami Gardens-Hialeah crossroads…. Being open out there has been a really positive impact to our community.” In May 2024, the launch of intraoperative radiation therapy was a significant milestone for the hospital in cancer treatment, she said. “With breast cancer awareness month this past October, we were able to bring a lot of awareness to the intraoperative radiation therapy service.” HCA Florida Mercy Hospital, meanwhile, has over $100 million of capital investment that’s “either in flight or just finished in the last couple of months,” said Allyssa Tobitt, Mercy’s chief executive officer. The neurointerventional biplane suite, “which allows us to take care of patients with stroke or endovascular needs from a neurology standpoint,” was launched in October, said Ms. Tobitt. With that capital investment, the hospital will be “endeavoring to become a comprehensive stroke center in the future, but started with elective endovascular services.” A $45 million investment into Mercy’s women’s and neonatal intensive care unit, she said, achieved a level three, which allowed the hospital to advance in its capabilities with neonatal babies, who previously often had to be transferred. Mercy has decreased its transfers out of the hospital by over 60%, “so it’s an advancement that was needed for the community and for the women that are choosing to look to deliver their babies here at Mercy Hospital.” Additional portions of the construction project still being finished are adding more labor and delivery suites and postpartum suites. Mercy is also adding four operating rooms, three general and one a hybrid room. “The general ORs [operating rooms] will be dedicated to orthopedics, which will allow us to open room in our main OR for additional surgical service needs in the community,” said Ms. Tobitt, “and then our hybrid OR will be dedicated to cardiac and vascular services, and really give us new technology to use in those service lines that we have not previously had, so exciting advancements. Those are expected to open in February of 2025, so literally right around the corner.” Mercy is also upgrading its elevators and replacing its roof. “We live on the ocean, and … we are obviously at risk for adverse weather,” said Ms. Tobitt, “and so taking care of our building, not just putting the fancy toys in our building but also taking care of our building is just as important. So, replacing our roof, replacing every elevator in the entire building. We have a lot of new fancy elevators in this hospital, which is fantastic. You know, when you were built 74 years ago, it is time, sometimes, to upgrade their modernization.” The roof is about 50% completed and is to be finished in March, she said. Two elevators remain to be finished by April. Projects are starting soon to modernize and enhance the cath lab and interventional radiology suites “to make sure that we have the top-notch technology for the community,” Ms. Tobitt said. Mercy Hospital is always looking to see where it can expand next, Ms. Tobitt said. It looks into what “the community needs the most, and then assess what type of projects would match the community need.” HCA Aventura’s overall goal is similar, to serve patients in the community as well as the surrounding Miami-Dade and Broward areas, said Ms. Hunter. “We are actually celebrating our 60th anniversary … next year, and we’re really looking forward to that.” The Aventura hospital is “now a Leapfrog rating of an A, and that is our hospital safety goal,” Ms. Hunter said. “It’s an organization – Leapfrog – that ranks hospitals based on their quality outcomes and care experience throughout the country. Aventura has progressed from being a B to an A for this fall.” On the corporate level, HCA Healthcare “is the nation’s leading provider of quality patient-centered care and also the leader in graduate medical education,” Ms. Hunter said. “We have over 300 programs, 79 hospitals across the US with 5,100 residents and 300-plus fellows. What that means is that HCA Healthcare has made a large investment into the future of medical providers in the US, and so we actually are training the most.” HCA Florida Mercy Hospital has been serving its community with a unique history. “HCA Florida Mercy Hospital has been in the community as Mercy Hospital since 1950,” said Allyssa Tobitt, chief executive officer of HCA Florida Mercy Hospital. “Today [Dec. 18] is our 74th birthday, and next year we’ll celebrate 75 years, which is really incredible.” The hospital began through the archdiocese, she said. “At the time,” she said, “the only archdiocese in the state of Florida was in St. Augustine. The archdiocese of St. Augustine asked the sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine to shepherd the hospital and to build a hospital on this land, which was given to the archdiocese by the Deering family, who owns Vizcaya Gardens.” Ms. Tobitt noted that Mercy was the first hospital in Miami-Dade County to allow Cuban exile physicians to work in the facility. There is a “very strong Hispanic culture and Cuban culture at the hospital, also the only Catholic hospital in Miami-Dade County, something we’re really proud of.” Mercy has been a part of HCA since 2011 but has maintained its Catholic identity. “Even with the sell to HCA in 2011,” said Ms. Tobitt, “we entered what we call a covenant agreement with the archdiocese to say, ‘we will uphold the Catholic identity of the hospital forevermore,’ and we’re proud to still do that today.” Related Posts:Nicklaus Children’s Hospital launches surgical towerPilot fire rescue program uses telemedicine instead…Bill Ulbricht: New Baptist Hospital CEO meets an…Jackson Memorial Hospital income hammered by covidMount Sinai cancer center to probe patient experiencesThe post HCA Hospitals reveal construction projects, upgrades appeared first on Miami Today.