Baptist Health has opened a new emergency and imaging center near St. Augustine for adults and children in response to a growing need in St. Johns and adjacent Flagler counties.
The 23,879-square-foot Baptist/Wolfson Children’s ER and Imaging Center houses two emergency rooms: one for youth and adults and another for children a year old and younger. The center is at 461 Outlet Mall Blvd. at the junction of Interstate 95 and Florida 16.
"With the rapid growth in our region, it’s critical that we’re meeting the rising demand for convenient access to the right care in the rightsetting," said Michael Mayo, president and CEO of Jacksonville-based Baptist Health, which includes Wolfson Children's Hospital. The new center "underscores our commitment to providing convenient access to high-quality emergency care for the whole family," he said.
Families in St. Johns and Flagler counties will have closer access to the specialized care provided by Wolfson, which is in Jacksonville and the region's only full-service children's hospital and state-designated Level I pediatric trauma center.
"Children and adolescents have their own unique health needs, and every square inch of our children’s emergency centers throughout the community are designed with that in mind," Wolfson President Allegra Jaros said.
The center also features an imaging center for adults and children to provide X-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans, mammography and bone density screenings.
It is among the latest developments in the burgeoning Northeast Florida health care industry. Here's more.
North Florida Rehabilitation Hospital
North Florida Rehabilitation Hospital has opened on Jacksonville's Westside as the region’s first free-standing inpatient rehabilitation facility west of the St. Johns River.
The 60,000-square-foot facility has 50 beds, including a 12-bed brain injury unit, multidisciplinary therapy gymnasiums, a specialized daily living activities suite and outdoor courtyards "designed to promote patient ambulation and activity," according to the hospital.
The facility was developed by The Sanders Trust, a health care real estate investment and development company, and is operated by Lifepoint Rehabilitation, a business unit of Lifepoint Health. The hospital focuses on rehabilitation and recovery for patients who suffer from stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, complex neurological disorders, orthopedic conditions, multiple traumas, amputation and other injuries or disorders.
The hospital is at 7775 Volunteer Way between Interstate 295 and Normandy Boulevard.
UF Health
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has selected UF Health to lead a program to enlist community pharmacists in Jacksonville to help patients manage high blood pressure.
The goal of the Hypertension Pharmacists’ Program is to "reduce the health disparity gap … in medically underserved, predominantly Black communities" by adding clinical pharmacists to patients' primary care teams, according to UF Health.
About 50% of American adults have high blood pressure or hypertension. In Jacksonville three out of four patients with treatment-resistant or uncontrolled hypertension identify as Black or African American. Meanwhile, nearly 90% of Americans live within 5 miles of a community pharmacy, according to the CDC.
So beginning this summer, the pharmacist program will allow patients to get individualized care and education from a specially trained pharmacist at a community pharmacy, according to UF Health.
Leading the program is the UF Health Jacksonville Office of Community Engagement in collaboration with the UF Health Total Care Clinic-Jacksonville, the UF College of Pharmacy and Panama Pharmacy in the Panama Park area of North Jacksonville.
Pharmacist Kevin Duane has owned a pair of Panama Pharmacy locations in Jacksonville since 2016. "We believe in a lot more for our community pharmacists than just dispensing medications," he said, calling the new program a "great opportunity to help patients better manage their blood pressure. To do it for a historically underserved community makes it even sweeter, especially considering this is the community that our pharmacy lives to serve every day."
Baptist Medical Center Clay and Baptist Medical Center South
Dr. David "Brandon" Chapman has joined Baptist Health in the newly created position of vice president of medical affairs for Baptist Medical Center Clay and Baptist Medical Center South.
He will "focus on the implementation of patient-centric, effective and streamlined clinical care, liaising between the administration and medical staff at the two hospitals," according to Baptist Health. "The role is an integral part of the health system’s commitment to a seamless approach to care across the entire network."
A board-certified otolaryngologist, Chapman most recently worked in North Carolina, where he was associate chief medical officer and executive medical director of perioperative medicine at Atrium Wake Forest Lexington Medical Center and associate chief medical officer at Atrium Wake Forest High Point Medical Center.
The new role stems from Baptist's "dedication to a dyad leadership model, meaning an organizational structure in which clinicians work closely with hospital presidents and administration for strategic and operational responsibilities," according to Baptist. Chapman is the third vice president of medical affairs, joining Dr. Ted Glasser at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Dr. Mark Toney at Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
UF Health St. Johns
UF Health has appointed new executives at UF Health St. Johns: Kerry Watson as interim chief executive officer and Dr. Huson Gilberstadt as chief medical officer.
Among Watson's chief duties will be leading the transition of UF Health St. Johns, formerly Flagler Hospital, into the UF Health system, as well as provide strategic direction and leadership, according to UF Health.
Most recently, he was interim CEO for Maui Health System in Hawaii. Prior, he filled numerous interim executive leadership assignments with major health care organizations and held permanent roles at others, including 15 years at Duke University Health System.
Gilberstadt will serve as UF Health St. Johns’ "physician leader, overseeing patient care and clinical effectiveness," according to UF Health. He recently worked as a medical consultant for information services companies and helped lead the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes, or ECHO, program — Project Save Lives — at the national level. Earlier he held leadership roles at Ascension, including as chief medical officer and president of Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside Hospital in Jacksonville.
Send Northeast Florida health care news to bcravey@jacksonville.com.
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