Baptist Health has broken ground on a $190 million four-story emergency and patient tower at the health system’s main campus, which is on Jacksonville’s Southbank and currently houses Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
The project “marks a major step forward in expanding and enhancing access to advanced care for adults and children in Northeast Florida when they need it most,” according to Baptist.
“We continuously strive to create great experiences for our patients and their families and our new emergency and patient tower has been designed from the ground up to reflect that commitment,” Michael Mayo, president and CEO of Baptist Health, said.
The McGehee Family Tower is named after philanthropists Debbie and Sutton McGehee Jr., who contributed to the project cost.
“We are so grateful to the McGehee family for helping to bring this project to life. Their legacy of compassion will touch the lives of future generations,” Mayo said.
Baptist Health’s main campus provides emergency care for more patients than at any other hospital in the Jacksonville area.
The 123,000-square-foot McGehee tower “will significantly enhance the health system’s capacity to provide the highest level of care for a wide range of health needs,” including chest pain, stroke, behavioral health crises, complex illnesses or injuries and pediatric trauma, according to Baptist.
“We wanted to make a lasting gift for our community that we have called home for generations,” Debbie and Sutton McGehee said in a joint statement. “We raised our kids here and our grandchildren are growing up here. Supporting this new patient and ER tower helps to make sure that Baptist Health and Wolfson Children’s Hospital can continue to care for current and future generations of families in the Jacksonville area.”
Philanthropists Debbie and Sutton McGehee Jr., left, stand with Michael Mayo, president and CEO of Baptist Health, at the recent groundbreaking for the health system’s $190 million McGehee Family Tower.
Multiple generations of the McGehee family have long supported Baptist Health and Wolfson and are particularly interested in efforts to “enhance community health, most especially for children,” Baptist said.
Frank McGehee, Sutton McGehee’s father and co-founder of the family business Mac Papers, spent about 20 years on the Wolfson Children’s Hospital board, including serving as chairman. His sister, Ellen Cavert, founded The Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
Sutton and Debbie McGehee, their three daughters and sons-in-law, contributed funds toward the Borowy Family Children’s Critical Care Tower through the 2020 “Hope Starts Here” campaign. Their daughter Ray is currently a member of the Wolfson Children’s Hospital Development Council.
The McGehees also established an endowment, the Del and Peggy Dallas Chair in Breast Cancer Care, at Baptist MD Anderson in Jacksonville. The endowment is named in honor of Debbie McGehee’s late parents; her father received treatment for gastric cancer at MD Anderson in Houston.
Baptist Health representatives and other area officials break ground for the new four-story emergency and patient tower at the health system’s flagship campus shared by Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
The new tower will open in phases and is expected to be completed in 2029. It will have two emergency centers — one for adults age 18 and over and one for children — complete with separate waiting rooms and an upgraded emergency entrance designed for a “streamlined arrival experience,” according to Baptist.
The initial tower will also have 100 emergency patient rooms, with 63 for adults and 37 for children, including three pediatric trauma rooms. A planned future expansion will add 68 inpatient rooms.
“For the past 70 years, the community has relied on us in their time of need,” Nicole Thomas, hospital president of Baptist Jacksonville, said. “We take this responsibility to heart and believe everyone deserves access to safe, high-quality care.”
Other features include dedicated imaging, laboratory and ancillary resources; a endoscopy suite, expanded areas for pre- and post-operative heart procedures; and shell space for new cardiac procedure rooms.
A rendering shows the four-story, 123,000-square-foot McGehee Family Tower under construction at Baptist Health’s flagship campus, home to Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Wolfson Children’s Hospital, on Jacksonville’s Southbank. The new medical tower is expected to be completed in 2029.
The new Wolfson emergency center will feature child-friendly designs and specialized equipment and pediatric care teams from the hospital’s Porter Family Children’s Trauma Center, the region’s only state-designated, American College of Surgeons-verified Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center.
“Children receive the right care faster when they are treated in facilities designed for their unique needs,” Allegra Jaros, president of Wolfson, said. “This new tower will ensure we can continue to provide consistent, top-quality emergency care here in our community to the youngest residents of Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia.”
Emergency rooms at Baptist Jacksonville and Wolfson will remain open 24/7 throughout the construction project, with personnel and signage helping guide patients and their families.
bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Work begins on Baptist Health’s $190 million emergency, patient tower
