PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 The Port St. Lucie City Council voted Dec. 9 to deny a proposal that would have allowed emergency services to be added to a planned medical development on Becker Road.<\/p>\n
Senior Planner Bethany Grubs outlined the approved plans for the property, which include a 66,798-square-foot, two-story medical office building for Flagler Health. The proposal, titled MedSquare Becker Road, would have incorporated emergency services to be operated by Cleveland Clinic as part of the development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe freestanding emergency department would provide both emergency and urgent care services,\u201d Grubs said.<\/p>\n
The applicant, Redtail, requested a zoning change to allow the emergency services component. The city\u2019s Planning and Zoning Board recommended approval in a 4-1 vote, finding the proposal consistent with the city\u2019s comprehensive plan.<\/p>\n
Tod Mowery of Redtail said the project aligned with the city\u2019s goals for the Becker Road area and its focus on medical industries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it that you\u2019ve asked the EDC and the partners here at the city to help you pursue? One of those is medical industries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mowery cited city policy encouraging economic growth and job creation in targeted industries as justification for approving the plan.<\/p>\n
Chirag Choudhary, chief medical officer of Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital, said growth is necessary to meet the needs of a growing community.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies who feel safe, caregivers who feel proud, and a city that thrives because health is within reach for everyone. With your partnership, we\u2019ll keep building the best place to work and the best place to receive care, right here in Port St. Lucie,\u201d Choudhary said.<\/p>\n
Choudhary said Cleveland Clinic is on track in 2025 to see 33,000 hospital admissions, 24,000 surgeries, 150,000 emergency department visits and 500,000 clinic visits, totaling 2.5 million patient encounters.<\/p>\n
Mowery said the emergency services facility would reduce costs and wait times while providing 24\/7 care at a convenient location, but would not offer overnight stays.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a hospital,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t stay overnight. This is not dealing with Code 3 ambulance traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said emergency services already determine whether patients should be transported to the site rather than to Florida Coast Medical Center or Cleveland Clinic. The proposal projected a reduction of 261 trips, with 72% classified as urgent care visits and 28% as emergency room visits, only 2% of which would involve ambulance transport.<\/p>\n
Public comment on the proposal was divided. Pastor Darren Gayle of Life Shift Church spoke in support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe that it would be a blessing, and hopefully you\u2019ll consider allowing Cleveland Clinic, who has a great reputation, to place something in our great community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jesse Cooke, a local resident, questioned the need for additional emergency services given the proximity of Florida Coast Medical Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are you going to explain the need for an emergency room, where there\u2019s a state-of-the-art hospital, under capacity, just opened months ago, 1.4 miles down the road,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cooke also raised concerns about patients experiencing mental health or substance use crises after treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to treat the acute problem, and those people are going to walk out the door,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they don\u2019t have a ride, where are they going to go? On my street, in my neighborhood?\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyler Sherrill, CEO of Florida Coast Medical Center, said his facility has capacity to serve the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have significant capacity, what I would consider to be capacity for many years in our emergency department,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got short wait times, we\u2019ve got short wall times, and we have 26 ER emergency rooms in our hospital with diagnostics and surgery capabilities within 100 meters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sherrill said the proposal could disadvantage the area and affect traffic and nearby homeowners because of the 24\/7 nature of emergency services and ambulance routing.<\/p>\n
Vice Mayor Jolien Caraballo was one of two council members who supported the proposal, citing concerns about future development and resident demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t approve it, I fear if the property is sold, then you could end up with something that is creating a lot more traffic in their neighborhood than this particular facility,\u201d she said. \u201cIn addition to that, I look at the fact that it is one of the number one things that residents have asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caraballo said she supported providing more options for care in a growing city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine saying no to something that is so needed in the community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Shannon Martin clarified her role as a board member at Florida Coast Medical Center before addressing the proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand free market. I fully believe in the free market,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not about Cleveland Clinic, this isn\u2019t about Florida Coast Medical Center. This entire conversation is about the use under our planning and zoning code and about how it is going to affect the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin shared concerns about traffic impacts from a 24\/7 emergency facility and said she did not view the proposal as an economic development project. Councilmember Anthony Bonna agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t necessarily need a free-standing emergency department,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The council voted 3-2 to deny the proposal, blocking the addition of emergency services to the Becker Road medical development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 The Port St. Lucie City Council voted Dec. 9 to deny a proposal that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-86277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86277","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=86277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}