![\"REP_CARD_CASSANDRA-GARCIA_STUART_FS.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776685748_860_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nPORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital has opened a new 6-story parking garage with 667 spaces and 13 electric vehicle charging stations, ending a parking shortage that had patients leaving cars along curbs and in the grass.<\/p>\n
“This has been a need here for several years,” said Rahat Verma, Chief Operating Officer at HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital.<\/p>\n
WATCH WPTV’S COVERAGE BELOW:<\/p>\n
HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital opens new 6-story parking garage to improve patient access<\/p>\n
Garage parking comes at no cost to visitors. The addition is more than a convenience. Hospital officials say easier access directly affects patient outcomes.<\/p>\n
“In moments where they need care critically, they’re being able to come in efficiently and see top-class providers,” explained Verma.<\/p>\n
Patients on social media expressed relief at the news. It was not uncommon, they said, to arrive at the hospital and find no available parking as the facility has seen a noticeable surge in demand.<\/p>\n
Verma said, “In 2026 alone, we’re seeing a 20 percent increase in admissions, as we touched before, deliveries more than doubling from the previous year.”<\/p>\n
The parking garage is part of a broader expansion at the hospital, which has also added more beds and a new labor and delivery suite. Verma confirmed that even more growth is on the way.<\/p>\n
“We’ve already started our campus master plans iterations, which are going to add a future tower to this campus […] so that folks don’t have to travel far for care,” he said.<\/p>\n
The new garage reflects a hospital working to keep pace with a growing community’s healthcare needs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WPTV<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital has opened a new 6-story parking garage with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[63481,49869,17355,43001,171,173,172,115391],"class_list":["post-268749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-hca-florida-st-lucie-hospital","tag-healthcare-access","tag-hospital-expansion","tag-parking-garage","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-treasure-coast-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}