Bonita location of NCH emergency room prepares for grand opening
Thaddeus MastA second freestanding emergency room is opening along the Bonita Springs-Estero line as NCH Healthcare System showcases its new facility on U.S. 41 with an open house.
NCH Healthcare Bonita is a two-story, 41,000-square-foot building filled with equipment needed to take care of both emergencies and minor health problems, said Wendell McClurg, systems director of operations for emergency service.
“We have 12 emergency room beds and 6 subchairs for lower-acuity patients,” McClurg said.
Dozens of employees scurried around the building Wednesday preparing for a private ribbon-cutting later that night. Construction boxes were rolled to storage and flowers lined the entrances. The 250 attendees got a sneak peak of the building before the public grand opening that will be 9 a.m.-noon Saturday at the facility, 24040 S. U.S. 41..
NCH expects 10,000 patients in its first year and many more in the coming years. Ambulance trips will make up a minority of the visits, as many patients walk in themselves.
Patients can go straight from an ambulance to an emergency bed from the large entrance facing U.S. 41. The building sits west of the roadway, a large NCH sign filling the walls. The facility is just hundreds of feet south of the Estero village line.
A Lee Health freestanding ER meant to serve a similar populace sits less than a mile north. The Lee Health – Coconut Point facility opened to patients Dec. 3.
With the two facilities so close, patients can choose which ER to use. Ambulances normally go to the closest facility if the patient is unable to pick a health provider.
“We’re happy to bring our five-star care service to the Bonita Springs community,” McClurg said.
An NCH immediate care center on Bonita Beach Road will continue to operate for non-life-threatening illnesses or injuries meant as a faster alternative for a full-service emergency room.
A freestanding ER cannot keep patients more than a day, so people with more serious problems requiring longer stays will likely go directly to a larger, full-service facility such as NCH North Naples Hospital.
NCH Healthcare Bonita still offers more than critical care locations, officials said. Equipment such as two CT scanners and an EMT machine, along with an on-site lab, allow for faster analysis and care.
Locations along Immokalee Road and Collier Boulevard were used as a model for the new facility, although the land forced some changes. Overall, the site is smaller.
“The lab is more compact,” said Mat Treganza, assistant laboratory director.
The dedicated lab produces faster results than those at the larger hospitals in Naples.
The main floor ER is opening Dec. 17. A second floor with physician offices will open in early 2019.
“The continuing construction will not affect us on the first floor,” McClurg said.
The public is invited to the grand opening and tour Saturday.
