'Who's counting?': New Baptist hospital 354 days away from move-in
The new $636 million Baptist Health Care hospital campus on Brent Lane was 354 days away from completion and moving all patients and equipment to its new location, Baptist officials said Tuesday.
The 57-acre campus at the corner of Interstate 110 and Brent Lane will feature a 10-story, 264-bed hospital, as well as a six-floor medical office building with 162 exam rooms, a conference center for public events and an array of multi-specialty services such as oncology, women's health and outpatient imaging.
"From the chair I sit in, it's hard for me to believe we're less than one year away from moving into this campus," said Mark Faulkner, president and CEO of Baptist Health Care, on Tuesday. "In fact we're 354 days away, but who's counting?"
Hospital ground breaking: Baptist Health Care breaks ground on new $615 million health care campus
New behavioral center: Baptist moving behavioral health unit into new $30 million building at Brent Lane campus
The hospital campus will also include a 72-bed, $30 million behavioral health unit to address more short-term, in-patient psychiatric care for children and adults in mental health crises.
"Health care should be more than just fixing people that are broken or healing people that are ill," Faulkner said. "We should be contributing to the overall wellness of the community as well, and we were designing a campus that does both."
Baptist Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development Brett Aldridge said the construction of the hospital has contributed millions of dollars to the Pensacola and Escambia County economy.
New hospital worry: 'Forgotten' residents around Baptist Hospital worry for their future as facility plans move
"I can't help but think about the lives we'll have the opportunity to touch in the future," Aldridge said. "But not only ... in the patients we treat in the community we serve, but it's also about economic impact. This project has had a huge economic impact on the region and on the community."
The new hospital construction has contributed $16.7 million to local construction wages since January 2021, according to Baptist.
Aldridge also said the construction intentionally engaged local workers to provide jobs for the community.
"On any given day there are 800 construction workers on this site," he said. "Of that 800, 50% are either local or a minority, and we take a lot of pride in that; that's been a very purposeful effort with our partners and at Baptist Health Care to ensure that we are providing those opportunities for our local community."
If the move-in date remains the same, the new Baptist Hospital will begin full operation Sept. 23, 2023.
Benjamin Johnson can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com or 850-435-8578
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: New Baptist hospital in Pensacola year away from September 2023 move-in
