KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Florida Hospital Kissimmee broke ground on an expansion to its emergency department Wednesday.
Hospital officials said the need for health services in Osceola County is exploding and the expansion will allow staff to keep up with demand. It will expand their working space and add beds.
"We've had to use some hallway structures at times just to get to some patients who are sitting outside in the lobby," said Ketan Pandya, M.D., emergency medicine.
The hospital administrator said they treat about 43,000 patients each year, and they're working with 15 emergency beds.
The expansion will bring the number of beds to up to 35 and triple their operating space, officials said.
"In Osceola County it appears there is a shortage of primary care physicians. So, many folks, unfortunately, are using the emergency room as their primary care type of visit," said Jeff Villanueva of Florida Hospital Kissimmee.
They'll be working to increase staff and improving their records system so that everything can be paperless. Officials said that would also speed up treatment times.
Part of the expansion includes more areas for children and changes to lighting and colors that they said will help to calm patients.
"While we know we can't take away a lot of the anxiety that comes along with an emergency department visit, we can try to do our best to calm the patient and get them through their ordeal," said Pandya.
Officials said they expect part of the construction to be finished by the end of this year and the entire project to be completed by summer of next year.
Hospital administrators said since the facility opened 20 years ago, the county's population has doubled while the number of patients they see has tripled. They expect the county's population to increase another 11 percent over the next five years.
WFTV
