Orange Park Medical Center opened the first part of its $62 million, 101,435-square-foot patient tower this week.
The ground floor, with 5,800 square feet, includes outpatient testing, imaging services, patient registration and 2,200 square feet of shell space for growth.
Construction began last fall. When complete, it will add two floors of private patient rooms and two floors built as shell space for future construction, adding 48 beds, bringing the hospital’s total count to 365.
The remainder of the tower will open later this year.
Patients coming to the hospital for outpatient imaging and testing services will now come in through the hospital’s main entrance.
The tower is part of a $126 million expansion that includes an electrophysiology lab, dining room, kitchen, medical office building and NICU expansion.
It opens a week after Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted a ban on elective surgeries. The hospital will follow a protection plan to keep staff and patients safe.
“Few settings outside of someone’s home have as many protections in place to prevent to the exposure of COVID-19 as our hospital,” Dr. Kasia Walosik, anesthesiologist and chief of staff, said in a news release.
Everyone who enters the building will be required to wear a mask. There will be a symptom and temperature checks at the door and social distancing will be in place. COVID-19 patients and suspected COVID-19 cases stay in a separate area of the hospital.
