The new AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway hospital will open its doors to patients on Aug. 2, but the facility has already passed a major stress test.
“This has been years in the making going all the way back to 2019 when we started our planning and site selection,” said Wally De Aquino, president and CEO of AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway, during a media tour of the new hospital on Tuesday. “We eventually broke ground in September 2021, and what a time in history to start a project like this. While the entire country and world were dealing with a pandemic, staffing challenges and inflation, we pressed forward.
The hospital, located between Palm Coast Parkway NE and Palm Coast Parkway SW, just west of Belle Terre Parkway, will hold a community open house from 1-4 p.m. Wednesday at the campus, whose official address is 1 AdventHealth Way. Dubbed “Picnic on the Parkway,” the free open house will feature hospital tours, food, music, giveaways and other activities. Attendees can pre-register for the event here, but registration is not required online.
De Aquino referenced the hospital’s ties to the Seventh-day Adventist Church during his opening address to the attending media: “Our mission is to expand the healing ministry of Christ into this new facility. We will express our mission by providing exceptional care and demonstrating our commitment to the well-being of the residents of Flagler County.” It was in that context that he said: “Today we thank God for the blessings that allow us to be here today, and to have a strong health system that stayed committed to this community even during such difficult times.”
The 158,000-sqaure-foot facility, which cost $167 million (including a medical building dedicated earlier this month), includes 100 inpatient beds, which will double the inpatient capacity for Flagler County when added to AdventHealth Palm Coast, the hospital that recently marked its 20th anniversary at its campus on S.R. 100 just west of I-95.
The emergency department at Palm Coast Parkway houses 24 beds and includes a helicopter landing pad, and will “almost double” the county’s capacity for emergency services, De Aquino said.
“The community has grown a lot over the past few years,” he said in response to a question about ER wait times. “One of the things we did to make sure that goes a little bit smoother is we actually installed a CT (computed tomography scan) and an x-ray inside the emergency room, so we can care for those patients much quicker.”
The hospital is “fully staffed up for our opening with more than 350 team members to care for patients,” said Audrey Gregory, president and CEO of AdventHealth Central Florida Division – North Region, which includes operations in Flagler, Lake and Volusia counties. “That includes our critical team, noncritical team and physicians. We will continue to recruit physicians and team members as we continue to grow.”
Services offered by the new facility and the S.R. 100 campus will be mostly the same, De Aquino said. “The big difference is we are recruiting more physicians to our community, specialists who will be using this facility to provide more access for our community – for example, urology and general surgeons.”
Doctors at either hospital can choose to work at both, he added.
The new hospital will have staffing for 58 to 60 patients upon opening, De Aquino said. “We do expect during the winter that this might increase as we have snowbirds down here. We are anticipating that we are probably going to be at 80% capacity by the end of next year.”
Gregory said Flagler County “is one of the fastest-growing counties in Florida.” The Palm Coast Parkway site was chosen because AdventHealth is “committed to going where the community is, so as Flagler County grew in this direction, we wanted to make sure we are providing access at that point.”
“We continue to look at growth and planning,” De Aquino said. “We already own two pieces of land north of here in Flagler County. The current hospital at 100 is also an opportunity for us to expand because we are sitting on 100 acres there. So we are ready for growth.”
“It’s really not about just growing hospitals,” Gregory said. “It’s really making sure we have access to different kinds of services. In the fall of this year we will be breaking ground on our Palm Coast campus to build a cancer center. We want to make sure that even with our current access, that we have the right type of access for the community with the right kind of services that the community demands.”
Today’s tour wasn’t just for media: it included contributors to the AdventHealth Palm Coast Foundation, among them Rick Belhumeur, the Flagler Beach city commissioner. “What an amazing community partner Advent Health is by investing over and over again in our community’s healthcare needs,” he said. “The Advent Health Foundation uses all their donations to support the community in which it is generated and I am happy to help support the Hospice House and the Diabetes Alliance through their foundation as a 20/20 member.”
– Rick de Yampert for FlaglerLive
Jimb99 says
We really needed some other hospital chain in Palm Coast. Baptist or Halifax or another hospital group. Plus the fact they used prime real estate thrown in next to the auto parts store. Loss of more tax revenue for the city. They hurried before the other hospital group planned theirs out of US1.
I went to Advent in Daytona with a small cut on my thumb. I knew it needed stiches and the Advent walk-in wouldn’t do it. Over $8,000 price tag for 4 stitches. $2000 a stich. Not bad if you can get it right? Even with insurance discount and using insurance company negotiated rates, it still cost me over $2500 for 20 minutes and 4 stiches. Plus all the doctors work for someone else, still part of Advent but billed separately. Add another $1900 to that. (Using same CPT codes to bill, so billed twice for same procedure. They don’t want to hear about it (They don’t tell you the doctors all signed up, or forced to sign with Advent either.)
So unless you absolutely, with no other choice, please shop around for your hospital care. I found that after the fact that Halifax and Flagler hospital would have charged a lot less, using Advent CPT bill codes, than what I still have to pay Advent and their doctor group.
Philip Fragoso says
This is growing community and lots of families here are having kids. where is the pediactric’s, obstetric, and the LDR?
Jimbo99 says
That would be Bidencare for all ? It’s unaffordable healthcare, just like everything else in the last 2.5+ years. I received the mailer for the Open House, why would I waste my afternoon with a tour of this facility ? I am hopeful I never need to ever be admitted there. I wonder if Obama & Biden envisioned their (Un)Affordable Care Act being the last thing they called it as “Affordable”. The alternatives aren’t any better. Just like Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, that’s hardly reduced inflation. Everything Biden has called his programs, they all end up being the 180 degree opposite of what really happens. It’s not a coincidence & giving him 4 more years to finish the job is just insanity. They need to get on with a Biden-Harris impeachment.
TR says
…At other hospitals. Alfin doesn’t want the young people here. He wants the retired people that apparently he thinks has a lot of money. I’m not understanding why a middle aged couple with kids would move here when there is no really good paying jobs here. If I was in my 30’s or 40’s and had even just one kid, I sure in hell wouldn’t move here when there’s no really decent jobs. Good luck.
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
No Trauma Unit, No Maternity, No room for expansion, way too tall for the surrounding neighborhood, sticks out like a sore thumb. At night from the neighborhood across the street it looks like the circus is in town with the ever changing colored lights and row of bright white lights across the top, actually hurts the eyes. Seems this was built for one purpose to stop Flagler Health from building on the 40 acres they bought on U.S. 1? They could have easily added on to their present campus for what they crammed in here, should be interesting when it’s full capacity for the parking situation.
JustBeNice says
Exactly! I emailed the mayor about this and he said there was a study done and demographics don’t support any of what you listed. BS if you ask me.
Come clean Wally says
Fully staffed?? What a joke. This hospital can’t find employees who can afford to live or want to live in Palm Coast so they are hiring contract staff. This model will fail. Doctors and speciality staff are fleeing this area.
JimmyB says
Wow Jimbo99 you sound like one of those orange man chasers. Its a shame that orange man screwed everything up and the dems have had to clean it up for the past 2 1/2 years. Glad they stepped up while our previous government was rape’n and pillaging everything they could get. Probably a check from you too. Don’t forget to send this months check to help with his legal fees while he ride in his jet.
Hmmm says
And still won’t be able to get a helicopter to save a life at night.
Flapharmtech says
Well, I am a Florida state registered pharmacy technician and applied to advent health a few months ago for the position of PRN Tech, so very few hours but I wanted to get my foot in the door knowing the new hospital would open in August. I did get an interview, I did not get a job offer. Granted, I do not have hospital experience, but I do have the license and heck ya I can learn. Now I see quite a few advent health pharmacy tech job postings for the new hospital. I would never, ever consider applying again. They didn’t want me. So I agree, the new hospital is not fully staffed.
Flapharmtech says
Well, I am a Florida state registered pharmacy technician and applied to advent health a few months ago for the position of PRN Tech, so very few hours but I wanted to get my foot in the door knowing the new hospital would open in August. I did get an interview, I did not get a job offer. Granted, I do not have hospital experience, but I do have the license and heck ya I can learn. Now I see quite a few advent health pharmacy tech job postings for the new hospital. I would never, ever consider applying again. They didn’t want me. So I agree, the new hospital is not fully staffed.
Floridian says
Jimbo99 sounds like you drank the kool aid of “Orange Jesus” . Every week was “ Infrastructure Week” ,”I’m going to have something better than Affordable Care Act” . ..Since he was a billionaire he didn’t need money for his campaign , it was self funded. Keep those checks coming . Flynn tells the Russians that as soon as he gets in the White House they will be be OK, lies gets pardoned .There was a time when the Republican Party stood for good and righteous, that time is long gone.
Gus says
I can remember when you went food shoping you could come out with groceries for around $100 now it’s like $200 for the same. And I can also remember when gas was around $2 that was just just 3 years ago. I guess the dem cleaned it up really good. Pay back more not better.
palmcoaster says
I drove by today and the parking looked full! Insufficient parking! The city elected and their administrators big goof up!
Kathleen says
Yep City of Palm coast told me we don’t need a new skilled nursing rehab either not a need. They are so wrong as our people have to drive to st Augustine or Daytona to get better rehab.