Lakeland’s newest hospital is preparing to open its doors to Polk County patients in mid-July.
Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital opens its doors for a sneak peek as the healthcare provider prepares to begin treating patients at its new location, 4000 Lakeland Highlands Road. It will be the first new hospital opening in Lakeland in over a century.
“As we planned this facility, Orlando Health and Watson Clinic looked at the data to identify needs in the region for expanded access to high-quality health care close to home,” Carlos Carrasco, president of Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital, said at a media preview on June 25. “While there are many services offered within these walls, in the first few years you’ll see a focus on programs including our abilities to care for hearts, brains and babies.”
It’s been approximately six years of work to get to the opening, as Orlando Health purchased the 80-acre site from Edward Holloway and the Holloway family in 2020. Construction has created more than 700 jobs, with an additional 1,500 employees hired for hospital, Lakeland City Commissioner Guy LaLonde Jr. said.
“What you will see here today is nothing short of remarkable. It’s a brand new facility built to do the right thing for patients, physicians and the community,” Orlando Health spokesman Andrew Snyder said. “Orlando Health is partnering with Watson Clinic, one of the most respected physician-led practices in the state to deliver exceptional quality and personalized compassionate care that Orlando Health is known for.”
Licensed for 306 beds
The hospital will be licensed for 306 beds, according to Matt Woodrow, the chief administrative officer of Orlando Health’s Mid-Florida Region. Its emergency department is accessible via a helipad, ambulance bay and the front walk-up access through the main entrance of the hospital.
The emergency department will open in mid-July with 49 patient bays to start, Woodrow said, with the ability to expand to 90 bays. The area is divided into three sections based on triage level, or the assessment of the level of care the individual needs.
Eleven operating rooms are expected to be available for medical use upon the hospital’s grand opening, Woodrow said. Two of the operating rooms will be more specialized, requiring further construction, increasing the number to 13 operating rooms by the year’s end.
The hospital has two heart catheterization labs and highly specialized 3-T Magnetic Resonance Imagining machines to allow higher powered resolutions while performing cardiac testing and procedures.
There is one specialized neurology lab that features a Siemens biplane radiology scanner, which neurosurgeon Dr. Shane Burke said can be used to help create 3D imaging of a patient’s blood flow patterns in the brain in real time. This can help improve accuracy while performing minimally invasive procedures, such as placing stents, but also used to obtain detailed scans immediately before performing open brain surgery, Burke said.
There are 51 pre- and post-operative surgical bays were patients accessing medical treatment can consult with doctors, such as anesthesiologists, and be monitored while recovering from surgery.
Dr. Doris Koduah, a hospitalist with Watson Clinic, said the patient rooms were spacious in size and “designed for patients and their families to help them heal well.” All the medical rooms are single patient, Woodrow said, which helps with privacy concerns.
Each patient room is equipped with a state-of-the-art digital whiteboard that will provide hospitalized patients with the current treating physician who is on duty, and up-to-date schedules for pain medication and procedures, Woodrow said. This is done to help ease anxiety as patients know who to contact and what to expect in their medical care.
A focus on labor and delivery
Lakeland Highlands Hospital’s third area of focus will be on labor and delivery, providing a place for mothers to give birth to Polk’s next generation. Woodrow said given Polk’s rapidly growing population, this was seen as a regional need.
The facility will have four labor and delivery suites available when it opens, with four additional rooms being finished by the fall to bring the hospital’s total to eight. Birthing tubs will be available to those interested in two of the labor suites, Woodrow said.
The hospital’s second floor has two dedicated operating rooms for C-sections in its Center for Women and Babies. This area includes 12 post-delivery room, with an additional 16 rooms available on the sixth floor as part of a Level 2 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, designed to provide advanced care for premature babies or special needs children.
The NICU unit will not formally open until the fall, Woodrow said, but the hospital will have staff available should there be a need for specialized care in the labor and delivery unit.
Several teams of medical care providers could be seen running simulations in the hospital on June 25, during a tour of the hospital. Woodrow said these simulations play a critical role in making sure various provider can come together quickly in an emergency. The training will continue through opening.
“We have the pregame jitters,” Dr. Brody Hingst, Emergency Department doctor and expected medical director. “We’ve put in a lot of thought and effort already. We’re excited to bring this to fruition and begin treating patients.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Orlando Health, Watson Clinic’s new Lakeland hospital to open mid-July
Reporting by Sara-Megan Walsh, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Sara-Megan Walsh, Lakeland Ledger | USA TODAY Network
