HCA Healthcare wants to build a new, free-standing emergency room at a busy North Lakeland intersection.
HCA Healthcare is asking for a major modification to the Planned Unit Development to build an 11,570-square-foot emergency room at 1075 Carpenters Way, at the site of an old bank building on the northeast corner of Carpenters and U.S. 98 North.
“We are in essence a self-sufficient ER that’s placed in the community rather than you coming to a primary hospital,” said Gary Ball, HCA’s emergency manager at Brandon Regional Hospital. “The benefit of this is being more in your community and reduces EMS transport time to our facility, getting you to care faster.”
The proposed plans call for the demolition of the existing 4,554-square-foot building and redevelopment of the site. It was previously home to SunTrust, then Truist after the company’s merger.
Ball said the freestanding ER would be capable of providing acute care, performing CT scans and X-rays, taking blood work, and administering life-saving medications for heart attacks, strokes, and sepsis. It would be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year staffed by an ER physician and a combination of nurses and paramedics.
“We are coming to meet the needs of the increasing population,” he said. “The population growth anticipated over the next five years is about 6.5%, and the average age of 48.”
Ball, 58, a retired Polk County Fire Rescue battalion chief, said the county struggles with its transport times, distance, and manpower. He oversees the HCA Florida Lakeland Emergency at 3526 S. Florida Ave. in South Lakeland.