How Royal Palm Beach is growing: Baptist Health plans to open first ER in village

ROYAL PALM BEACH — Baptist Health, a faith-based, not-for-profit hospital network, is set to open the village's first emergency room.

It is not clear when the 35,000-square-foot facility will open, but it will feature an emergency room with 20 beds and medical office space along State Road 7, on the former site of a Toys"R"Us store.

Village manager Ray Liggins said the integrated facility will offer crucial medical services to Royal Palm Beach residents.

"We haven't had a hospital presence in the past," Liggins said.

The village council on Thursday, Feb. 15, unanimously approved on first reading Baptist Health's request for a special exception to allow the medical facility to be placed within the village's commercial zoning district.

"We are growing," said Councilmember Jeff Hmara during the meeting. "And some of us plan to be around for a while."

He added, "Unfortunately, what goes along with that is we spend more time in places like Urgent Cares and Emergency Rooms."

The council has scheduled a second and final vote on the special exception next month. Site plans for the 35,000-square-foot facility also would require council approval.

Baptist Health to open first ER in Royal Palm Beach

Miami-based Baptist Health South Florida filed a request with the village this year to establish an integrated health center within the village's general commercial zoning district.

Baptist Health representatives said the hospital network already operates a similar facility in Wellington and has eight other locations under development.

Bradford O'Brien, the village's Planning and Zoning Director, said it recommended the project because it was not just a standalone ER facility — as Baptist Health had suggested in the past — but rather an integrated center where residents can also go for medical appointments.

"This is where they go in an emergency to get care," O'Brien said. "And to get their normal care in one place, all the time."

Councilwoman Selena Samios asked what would make Baptist Health's medical center different from the Urgent Care facilities that already exist in the village.

Ken Tuma, a principal from Urban Design Studio — a firm hired by Baptist Health to design the project — told the council the main difference is that ERs are required to have a doctor on staff 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. By contrast, he said, urgent care facilities close at 11 p.m. and don't require a doctor to be on site.

"That 24-hour difference is a big game-changer," Tuma said. "In this case, there is a doctor, a licensed physician, there all day, every day. Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah, whatever it may be, you can go there."

What would the new Baptist Health's integrated medical center include?

The ER is expected to feature 20 beds and would treat emergencies, including broken bones but not heart attacks or strokes, Tuma said. It would operate as an off-campus emergency department from the Baptist Health's Bethesda in Boynton Beach.

The additional medical office spaces will be used for the following:

• Physician and medical practitioner offices

• Clinics and ambulatory surgery

• Diagnostic imaging

• Laboratory facilities

• Physical therapy

• Outpatient services

Tuma said patients would not be allowed to stay for more than 23 hours at the ER, following regulations set by the state's Agency for Health Care Administration.

How would it operate? Where would patients in critical condition be taken?

Village Mayor Fred Pinto said during the Feb. 15 meeting that residents had raised concerns that they would be sent from the planned Baptist ER to Baptist Health Bethesda West hospital in Boynton Beach.

"They didn't want to be booked into a hospital 15 miles away," Pinto said.

Especially, they said, when HCA Palms West and Wellington Regional are nearby.

Baptist Health representatives told the council that patients who are conscious but need further medical attention would be able to choose the hospital they will be transferred to. For unconscious patients, the paramedics and ER staff would send them to the nearest and most specialized facility for their condition.

The medical office space would also be leased to doctors and private physicians who are not in the Baptist Health organization, representatives said.

Councilman Richard Valutas said the project will be a benefit to all village residents as it will increase the number of hospital beds in the village.

"If COVID-19 taught us one thing I think we need more hospital capacity, not less," Valutas said.

Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Baptist Health to open first ER in Royal Palm Beach