The new 100-bed Physicians Regional
Medical Center-Collier Boulevard is scheduled to open
Monday, ushering in a new era in health care for eastern
county residents who will now have access to medical care
closer to home.
Executives of the new hospital and its parent company, Naples-based Health Management Associates, are holding an open house Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. for anyone in the public who wants to tour the 100-bed, three-story hospital. Some areas of the hospital will not be accessible to the public. Several thousand people are expected to attend the open house.
Construction of the $80 million hospital near the intersection of Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Collier Boulevard began in fall 2005 to serve fast-growing East Naples and Marco Island.
Michael Mastej, chief executive officer of the new hospital, says he has no idea what to expect in terms of patient admissions and patient visits to the emergency room during the first few days of operation but he anticipates the average daily census of 20 patients by the end of the first month.
The emergency room will be staffed with one emergency-medicine physician during the day and at night initially and more doctors will be added as patient volume increases, said Dr. Brian Flanagan, chief of emergency medicine.
“We are prepared for a lot but if we get little, we will be ready,” Flanagan said of the early days. The emergency room has 18 patient bays.
The hospital has four operating suites, a 20-bed recovery unit and 12 intensive-care beds. Six more operating suites are shelled and can be finished and made functional as needed, Mastej said.
A key component of the hospital is a separate women’s pavilion with six birthing suites and a 12-room post-partum/gynecology rooms. There’s also a well-baby nursery that can handle 15 babies and two-bed isolation room for sick infants.
The new women’s pavilion brings a second obstetrics/gynecology program to Collier County; the sole one previously is at North Naples Hospital on Immokalee Road, operated by the NCH Healthcare System. Five obstetricians/gynecologists have joined the medical staff of Physicians Regional-Collier Boulevard so far. Mid-wives may also apply for credentialing.
“They’re ready and excited,” Mastej said of the staff in the women’s pavilion about opening. Some of the obstetricians have told him they have patients anxious to deliver at the new hospital.
A $25 million medical office building behind the hospital will open in March. About half of the space has already been leased.
