by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
When Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville opened its doors on Oct. 13, 1986, the first five floors of the Davis Building and two trailers used for research were all that existed. Almost 20 years later, the Jacksonville location has grown to become the premier health care facility in the southeast.
“It all started in humble beginnings,” said Dr. George Bartley, CEO of Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. “And we have steadily grown since then.”
Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville most recently broke ground on a new hospital at the San Pablo Road location. The new Mayo Clinic Hospital Building is scheduled to open in 2008. For the past few months workers have been doing site preparation and preliminary work for the hospital, but the official ground breaking ceremony is on Nov. 11. Currently, patients who need hospitalization are admitted to St. Luke’s Hospital, which is owned by Mayo Clinic. When the new hospital opens, they will no longer be admitting patients to St. Luke’s.
Bartley said the new hospital will have 214 beds which can be expanded to 900 if necessary, and 16 operating rooms. The estimated cost of the hospital is $255 million.
“We have raised $75 million for the new hospital and $1.5 million came from our own employees,” said Bartley. “That is pretty impressive.”
Even though Mayo Clinic is growing a little more slowly now than in the past, Bartley said Mayo officials have very ambitious expansion plans.
Mayo Clinic owns 400 acres of land to expand their campus. Right now there are two research buildings for cancer and another one for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease research, but its goal is to add more research buildings covering all different areas of study, said Bartley. Officials also want to build dorms for students who are doing their clinicals at Mayo Clinic.
Bob Brigham, chief administrative officer at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, worked at this Mayo location from 1988-1993 before going to Mayo Clinic Rochester for 12 years. Today, he is back in Jacksonville.
“I was confident that it (Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville) would grow,” he said. “Back then we didn’t have all of the basics covered yet, but we always had that belief and commitment that it would.”
In the past 20 years, the Mayo Clinic has added onto the original Davis Building which is the home of the outpatient and clinical offices. Routine check-ups for things like the heart, lungs, and eyes can be done there, along with X-rays and some diagnostic tests, too.
The Mayo Building is used for radiation oncology, MRIs, mammography, and outpatient surgery.
Neurology, gynecology, neuro-surgery and primary care are all in the Cannaday Building. The Stabile Buildings are used for administrative offices.
In 2006, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville plans to celebrate the past 20 years with a year-long celebration. Each month there will be a different theme that focuses on Mayo Clinic’s values.
“We are going to use the year to highlight things that we hold dear in our culture and history,” said Bartley. “It will be a celebratory year for us.”
According to Bartley, Mayo Clinic prides itself on the team approach. Instead of going from one doctor’s office to the next for each health problem, everything can be done at one place at Mayo Clinic.
“All practices are done as a team,” said Erik Kaldor, marketing communications for Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. “You don’t have to travel from doctor to doctor.”
Mayo Clinic specializes in more than 50 medical and surgical procedures and in 2004 more than 91,000 patients were diagnosed and treated at the Jacksonville location.
“It can’t happen in other places as easy as it can happen here,” said Bartley. “It is a multi-disciplinary team approach.”
Brigham added that their physicians know the needs of their patients come before anything else.
“We do something unique here,” he said. “We excel in clinical care and the general quality of care that we commit to our patients.”
People come from all over the United States and abroad to receive care and treatment from Mayo Clinic where, Bartley says, everything is done in a timely and efficient manner.
“Everything is done here and completed all with the care of amazing, integrated and highly competent j4specialists,” said Brigham. “Mayo Clinic delivers both quality and success.”
Mayo Clinic’s logo, the three blue shields, represent their mission: practice, education and research. The largest of the three shields is in the middle and that one stands for practice. Bartley said that Mayo Clinic believes that they are doing everything to support their mission.
“Until you experience the level of health care here, you don’t appreciate what Mayo is all about,” said Kaldor.
Mayo Clinic opens its doors to anyone whose needs they can serve.
“Many think they have to be referred to Mayo Clinic; that is far from true,” said Brigham. “Anyone can call for an appointment and you will find technology here that is unique to the country.”
Bartley said patients just need to make sure Mayo Clinic takes their type of insurance and their team of doctors can take care of everything from A to Z.
Currently there are three Mayo Clinics: Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. which opened in the 1880s, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, which opened in 1986 and Mayo Clinic Arizona, which opened in 1987.
“The two thrusts of Mayo Clinic are to heal the sick and advance in science and research,” said Bartley.
When asked if there are any plans to add more campuses in other cities in the U.S., Bartley said the term “growth” means serving more patients.
“We have to make sure we deliver quality care before more campuses open,” said Bartley. “We don’t want to grow for the sake of growing, we want to grow in excellent quality.”
These numbers represent Mayo Clinic Jacksonville’s statistics as of March 31, 2005.
- 306 staff, physicians and
scientists
- 253 residents, fellows and
temporary professionals
- 4,378 allied health staff (clinic and hospital)
- 4,937 total employees