The Need is Obvious
Port St. Lucie has been one of the fastest-growing cities in Florida and the United States for the past five years. As the community has grown, so has the need for a new hospital.
Martin Memorial Health Systems (MMHS), the leading provider of health care in Martin and St. Lucie counties, has a plan to ensure continued access to quality health care services. Its new hospital will help ensure that during this period of rapid growth, residents of western Port St. Lucie and Tradition continue receiving quality healthcare services from a convenient location.
- 80-bed, state-of-the-art facility
- Full-service, 24-hour emergency department
- Dedicated obstetrics department
- Mobile imaging services like MRI, PET
- Convenient west Port St. Lucie location, near fast-growing Tradition
- Adjacent learning institution, medical office building
- Initial creation of 400 new jobs
Martin Memorial's new hospital will be situated west of Interstate 95 near the fast-growing community of Tradition. The inland location will go a long way towards protecting against our region's vulnerability during hurricane season.
With approximately 20 acres for a medical campus, the new hospital will be well-positioned for continued population growth in western St. Lucie County and enjoy enough space to accommodate a medical office building and other health care-related businesses. The hospital will foster high-tech economic development opportunities and will create 400 jobs initially, and another 400 jobs over the long term.
The state granted Martin Memorial a certificate of need for an 80-bed hospital in June 2007, but that ruling was appealed by Lawnwood and St. Lucie medical centers, which are both owned by HCA Inc. The State of Florida Division of Administrative hearings heard the case in November 2008 and should have a decision sometime in 2009. However, even if the judge rules in Martin Memorial’s favor, further appeals could delay this project. Given that opposition, the opening of a new hospital might not take place for another eight years. In that time, the projected population for the area could reach 176,000 by 2014, placing an even more significant strain on medical services in west Port St. Lucie.
Martin Memorial’s planned hospital is a key component of the Florida Center for Innovation at Tradition. That includes partnerships with life science organizations such as Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies and the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute. Since 2001, more than 50 cancer clinical research trials have been conducted at Martin Memorial’s Robert and Carol Weissman Cancer Center. In 2009, Martin Memorial intends to expand its operations to other disciplines, including infectious disease, neurology and cardiology. The vision for the future Martin Memorial hospital includes a dedicated phase 1 unit for conducting inpatient clinical trials in a variety of disciplines.
