$100 Million Expansion: Florida Hospital Fish Memorial Set to Add Patient Tower, Expand ER

ORANGE CITY, Fla., June 23, 2017 Florida Hospital Fish Memorial announced today a $100 million expansion project that will add more than 180,000 square feet to the hospital's footprint.

This expansion will significantly increase the size of the Orange City hospitals emergency department, create a fully private bed model for all 175 inpatient beds, and build a new four-story patient tower for enhanced cardiac, intensive care, surgical, and other services.

This construction project has been in the plans for quite some time now and we are so excited to have the opportunity to share this news with our community, said David Ottati, Florida Hospital Central Florida Division - North Region CEO. West Volusia County has seen rapid growth and Florida Hospital is committed to meeting our patient's needs. We are dedicated to providing high-quality healthcare close to home, so that patients do not need to travel outside of our community for care. This expansion will help us meet the community's needs now, as well as in the future, as West Volusia continues to grow.

In the first phase of this expansion, the hospital, which opened in 1994 on Saxon Boulevard, will increase from 175 licensed beds to 225 licensed beds.

In addition, the hospitals 31-bed ER will grow to approximately 50 beds, including dedicated pediatric beds.

More than 90 percent of our patients originate in the emergency department and we've continuously experienced high volumes of patients needing emergency care, said Rob Deininger, Florida Hospital Fish Memorial CEO. Our emergency department was built to accommodate 40,000 patients a year, but last year alone, we cared for more than 66,000 patients. That's nearly 60 percent more than what our emergency department was built to care for.

Florida Hospital Fish Memorial places a significant value on our responsibility to meet the community need and fulfill their trust in us, Deininger added. This expansion is a substantial investment in our community, but it is exactly what our community needs a world-class hospital delivering increased services to our communities. We are blessed to have the opportunity to bring this expansion project to the community and build on our historic commitment for the future.

Construction is expected to begin in early 2018 and completed in 2020.

The architect is Orlando-based RLF Architects.

RLF, a Central Florida architecture, engineering, and interior design firm, is proud to team with Florida Hospital Fish Memorial for this facility's expansion project, said Zach, Kasky, RLF project manager. Our objective is to elevate the hospital's presence in the community for the current and future residents, by providing user-friendly design and modern healthcare environments.

About Florida Hospital Fish Memorial

Florida Hospital Fish Memorial is a member of Adventist Health System, a faith-based health care organization with 45 hospital campuses and 8,200 licensed beds in nine states, serving more than 5 million patients annually. With a mission to extend the healing ministry of Christ, Florida Hospital Fish Memorial has 175-beds and is one of the seven Florida Hospitals in Flagler, Lake and Volusia counties that composes the Florida Hospital Central Florida Division - North Region. As the largest hospital system in the area, the Florida Hospital Central Florida Division - North Region has 1,226 beds and more than 7,800 employees.