Lee Health responding to growth in Cape Coral with slate of projects

Lee Health has numerous projects in the works to address health care needs in fast-growing Cape Coral.

They range from adding physician offices so more specialty services are closer to home for residents, including pediatric care, to expansions at Cape Coral Hospital, according to Dave Kistel, vice president and chief facilities executive.

The board for the publicly-operated hospital system recently approved a contract amendment to expand the Surfside Medical Facility at Veterans Parkway and Surfside Boulevard. The total project cost is $10.4 million and is targeted for completion in January 2024.

The phase-two project involves adding 15,000 square feet of space to the two-story outpatient complex.

Specialists employed by Lee Physician Group in orthopedics, endocrinology, rheumatology, and rehabilitation medicine will go into the new space.

Lee Physician Group currently does not have specialists in orthopedics or endocrinology in Cape Coral so that will become a first in both fields, Kistel said. Rheumatologists have been part time and will become available full time, he said. Outpatient-based rehabilitation medicine has been available at Cape Coral Hospital but is maxed out so the expansion at Surfside will offer a second location.

Overall the expansion of Surfside will mean some patients won’t need to commute to Fort Myers for specialty care with Lee Physician Group and wait times to see other specialists will improve, Kistel said.

Cape Coral growing by leaps and bounds

Cape Coral and its geographic area of 120 square miles has faced steady population growth and is now the eighth largest city in Florida with 204,510 residents, up from 154,305 residents in 2010. City leaders in 2021 projected 50-year growth to 430,000 residents.

Forbes Magazine last year ranked Cape Coral as the fourth best place to live in Florida, ahead of Orlando at fifth place and Miami as the sixth best place to live. The first three are Tampa, Jacksonville, and Gainesville.

Forbes pegged median income of Cape residents at around $62,000 and the median home price at $479,000.

Therese Everly, Lee Health board member whose district includes Cape Coral, said the hospital system is committed to expanding services and access to health care throughout the region as Southwest Florida continues to grow.

“This is a very exciting time in Cape Coral as we have several new projects underway," she said. "Cape Coral Hospital is the foundation of healthcare in the community, and we’re proud to be investing in innovative projects in the Cape, such as Bimini Basin, which is community-based."

There's been positive impact bringing internal medicine residency program through Florida State University College of Medicine to Cape Coral, she said.

"Through this residency program and clinic, Lee Health is developing well-educated, highly trained physicians, creating greater accessibility to needed care in the community," Everly said.

What else is in the works?

The 291-bed Cape hospital is getting some add-ons to keep up with both inpatient and outpatient demand.

• Twelve more beds are being added to the intensive care unit by adding a second floor above radiology with a nearly 11,000-square-foot addition. The cost is $13.5 million and work has started. The addition will bring the ICU bed count to 34.

• The dialysis center is doubling in size when it moves from the first floor to the second floor adjacent to the new 12-bed ICU. That project cost is $2.8 million. Occupancy is expected at the end of February 2024.

• Cardiology services on the first floor is expanding to another area. The project cost is $4 million. It is targeted for completion in summer 2024.

• 12 to 14 more bays in the emergency room will be added using the space that will become available when the dialysis center and cardiology projects are done. No budget yet.

• Six bays for “fast track” patients in the emergency room were recently completed. The cost was $1.2 million. The Cape Coral Hospital Auxiliary contributed $500,000 toward the cost.

• Plans are in the works to renovate space for more obstetrics services at the hospital by Lee Physicians Group.

• A “complex care clinic” for discharged patients so they avoid being readmitted will be added to the Cape hospital. A similar clinic operates at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers.

Plans for South Cape Coral are on the drawing board

Lee Health is planning to lease 47,000 square feet of building space in the future $100 million Bimini Basin project that is in the works by a developer in south Cape Coral.

The Cape Coral City Council approved rezoning and the master concept in February for the mixed-use development with apartments, a waterfront restaurant and shops on three sites south of Cape Coral Parkway.

The plan in the leased space is to offer laboratory services, radiology, women’s breast and health care and adult cardiology. The space also will be used for pediatric services in primary care, rehabilitation medicine and behavioral health.

“It’s a pretty substantial complement of physicians at that site,” Kistel said.

When Lee Health will gain access to the leased space depends on the developer’s time line for construction, he said.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Lee Health has several big projects in the works in Cape Coral