Lee Health - Coconut Point in Estero opens its doors to patients Dec. 3

The countdown is on.

On Dec. 3 — about two weeks away — Lee Health will open the doors of its sprawling $140 million medical campus in Estero.

Construction of Lee Health - Coconut Point began in May 2017. A year-and-a-half later, the 163,500-square-foot medical facility towers over Via Coconut Point and Coconut Road.

During a Thursday afternoon tour of the 33-acre site, Lee Health officials brought reporters inside the new outpatient complex as the building and its 200-plus staff prepare for the official opening early next month.

A community open house with free building tours, yoga classes, cooking demonstrations and help finding a doctor, is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17.

In case you missed it:Lee Health gives tour of its $140 million Estero medical campus

Lee Health - Coconut Point features advanced technology throughout the campus from check-in kiosks to rehabilitation equipment to webcam systems in the 24/7 freestanding emergency room.

Everything is positioned to better care for patients in the surrounding south Lee County community, said Lee Health President and CEO Larry Antonucci.   

“It’s a unique facility designed around patients, for patients,” Antonucci said.  

First floor: Emergency room, rehabilitation and Healthy Life Center

The first floor of Lee Health - Coconut Point will feature the 24-hour emergency room, a surgery center, imaging services, a breast health center with 2D and 3D mammography, cardiac testing, rehabilitation services and the Healthy Life Center, which is transferring from nearby Coconut Point mall.

The emergency department provides 16 exam rooms and nine short-stay observation rooms for patients who need additional care.

Webcam systems in exam rooms can be used for patient assessments from inside Lee Health - Coconut Point and anywhere in the Lee Health system, said Amanda Garcia, director of nursing services of Lee Health Coconut Point.

Lee Health is expecting 30,000 visits a year to the Estero emergency room, said Alex Greenwood, vice president of Lee Health - Coconut Point.

Transit ambulances would transport patients who need hospital care from the Estero ER to other Lee Health locations.

Rehabilitation therapy at the northeast end of the medical complex showcases advanced equipment for patients.

A system called “ZeroG” helps people who may be high-fall risks with walking and balance, said Janna Trottier, rehabilitation services manager for Lee Health - Coconut Point.

Patients can be harnessed to a pulley system attached to a track on the ceiling and that can hold up to 400 pounds. The system prevents patients from falling and minimizes the number of therapists needed to help someone who may be a fall risk, Trottier said.

“This is something we’re very, very excited about,” said Joe Ryan, director of ancillary services.  

The rehabilitation services area includes a virtual reality machine to test stability and an anti-gravity treadmill called “AlterG” that can help patients alleviate pain while in motion.

The Healthy Life Center has its own home within the Estero medical complex. It features education and multipurpose rooms and a kitchen where cooking classes will be offered to the community.

A teaching garden planted with basil, kale and Swiss chard is located at the north entrance of the building. It was planned in collaboration with Florida Gulf Coast University.

The goal is to use items from the garden in the teaching kitchen and Lee Health - Coconut Point cafe, Greenwood said.

Second floor: Physician Group clinics and Surgery

Lee Health - Coconut Point's second floor has Lee Physician Group clinics and exam rooms, four general operating rooms and 23 units for before and after surgery.

Outpatient surgeries will be performed at the Estero medical campus, which means patients will arrive and leave within the same day of a procedure.

“More and more surgery services are moving to outpatient settings,” Greenwood said.

Lee Health has partnered with Naples-based medical company Arthrex for surgical imaging technology in the Lee Health - Coconut Point operating rooms.

“This is by far the most advanced technology available on the market,” said Eric Butler, director of surgical integration for Arthrex. “What we have right here at Coconut Point, this is unsurpassed anywhere as far as technology goes right now.”

Lee Health and Arthrex also are partnering to help educate surgeons. Arthrex camera systems used in procedures at Lee Health - Coconut Point can show live surgeries that will help train future medical professionals, Greenwood said.

Plans for a future hospital in the works

Lee Health - Coconut Point was designed to hospital codes with plans for a hospital  connected to the southern end of the building. 

In June, Lee Health received initial approval from the Florida Agency of Healthcare Administration to build an 82-bed hospital at the Estero site.

State regulators also approved Nashville-based HCA Healthcare’s plans for an 80-bed hospital in Estero, just north of Corkscrew Road.

Lee Health and HCA Healthcare are opposing each other’s plans for hospitals in the south Lee village. Meanwhile, Collier County-based NCH Healthcare System has objected to both Lee Health's and HCA’s hospitals.

Hearings are planned in 2019 on the challenges to the hospital applications. 

This is Lee Health’s second time applying to build a hospital in Estero. In 2013, the organization filed a certificate of need, which the state later denied after opposition from NCH.

NCH is building a $34 million outpatient medical center and freestanding emergency room in Bonita Springs, south of the city’s border with Estero.

If You Go

Lee Health - Coconut Point Community Open House

When: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 17

Where: Lee Health - Coconut Point, 23450 Via Coconut Point, Estero

Details: leehealth.org/coconut-point/