Florida Hospital has cut the ribbon on an expanded 35 bed Emergency Room at its Kissimmee campus.
The hospital says the expansion allows it to meet the demands of the area's growing population.
Jeff Villanueva, the hospital’s administrator says the population served by the hospital is expected to grow about 10 per cent in the next 5 years.
“We were in an emergency department here at Florida Hospital Kissimmee, a very small emergency department, it was only 15 beds, and we were seeing 44,000 ED visits," says Villanueva.
"So it was a very tight space, and we knew that our community was going to continue to grow.”
ER visits are expected to increase to over 50,000 in the next five years.
The new ER includes a waiting room and treatment rooms designed specifically for pediatric patients.
“The reality is that as our community grows here in Osceola, it’s a younger population that we’re serving, so pediatric is a healthcare need that’s on the rise," says Villanueva.
Florida Hospital is not the only health provider expanding in Kissimmee: In May the Osceola Regional Medical Center – which is owned by the Hospital Corporation of America- opened a stand-alone emergency room in Hunters Creek.
For its part, Florida Hospital says the ER build out is just one step in a $72 million plan to expand its Kissimmee campus.