HCA Healthcare wants to build standalone emergency room in Stuart

Keith Burbank, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·2 min read
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STUART — A new $14 million emergency room may be built here to make it easier and faster to get treatment for serious injuries and illnesses.

City commissioners Monday gave their initial nod to construction of a freestanding emergency room at 2551 S. Kanner Highway. The project, which is to come before commissioners for final approval Jan. 22, would be owned by HCA Healthcare and operated by HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital.

Monday's vote was unanimous.

HCA already operates one standalone emergency room in Port St. Lucie and one in Vero Beach. The freestanding Darwin Square HCA emergency room in Port St. Lucie served 17,502 patients last year, according to HCA Healthcare.

"These are more and more common," Corey Lovelace, CEO of HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital, told commissioners Monday. "It's bringing emergency care closer to the community,"

The proposed 11,570-square-foot facility would be built on about 7.2 acres between Culver's restaurant and Water's Edge Dermatology. The project is expected to create about 20 "high-paying jobs," said Audra Creech, an attorney who was representing HCA Healthcare.

"HCA Florida Healthcare will be offering enhanced emergency services to meet the growing demands of Stuart and the surrounding areas," HCA spokesperson Jennifer Guerrieri said by text.

Officials of Cleveland Clinic, which owns and runs Martin North Hospital and Martin South Hospital in Martin County, declined to comment for this story.

Staffing and services

The emergency room would be equipped with imaging and lab equipment to handle severe and life-threatening conditions, Guerrieri said, and would be staffed with physicians 24/7.

Other medical professionals at the emergency room would include registered nurses and paramedics, Creech said.

A rendering of HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital's proposed standalone emergency room along South Kanner Highway in Stuart. The ER may be open in late 2026, according to an attorney representing HCA Healthcare.
A rendering of HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital's proposed standalone emergency room along South Kanner Highway in Stuart. The ER may be open in late 2026, according to an attorney representing HCA Healthcare.

The average wait time to see a doctor would be four minutes; patients typically are discharged about 78 minutes following arrival, according to HCA Healthcare.

Patients who require an overnight stay would be transferred to a hospital, which could be an HCA facility or other hospital.

Lawnwood opened ER in 2019

Lawnwood Regional Medical Center opened a $10 million standalone emergency room in Vero Beach in 2019. That emergency room now is part of HCA Healthcare, which in 2022 rebranded all of its nearly 500 medical facilities in the state to bring them under the parent-company name.

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HCA Healthcare was founded in 1968 as Hospital Corp. of America.

Commissioners received no comments Monday night from the public on the project.

Keith Burbank is a watchdog reporter for TCPalm, usually covering Martin County. He can be reached at keith.burbank@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Freestanding emergency room in Stuart OKed initially by city