Medical Center Of Trinity Opening Nears

Leigh Massengill walked through a floor high up in the hospital tower at the Medical Center of Trinity.

There are no patients in the cancer care ward.

It was late October, and the 400,000-square-foot, five-story hospital, which has 236 private rooms, wasn’t open for business yet.

There was work being done on the ground floor to ready it for patients and their families.

Up in the cancer care ward, however, it was quiet.

“I’ve opened floors before,” said Massengill, CEO of the Medical Center. “I’ve opened wings. But I don’t think I’ve opened a whole new hospital.” 

There were plans in place to start moving patients into the Medical Center, which stands on State Road 54 east of Little Road in Trinity, this month, but spokeswoman Mary Sommise said Nov. 8 that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

The hospital was in the state inspection process in early November, but officials are hoping to open the building by the end of this year.

You can still take a peek before that. The hospital is holding an open house for visitors from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19.

The is soon to be the new home and name of . Most of Community Hospital's services will move to the Medical Center. Only the behavioral health ward and an emergency room will be open at the New Port Richey property, which will be known as the the Medical Center of Trinity's West Pasco Campus.

It’s been a long campaign toward the opening of the hospital. 

The ground was broken in 2006. The national economic recession then slowed  construction. The whole project cost around $200 million, Sommise said. About $170,000 was spent on creating a new traffic light and intersection at the campus main entrance on State Road 54, east of Little Road. The hospital also paid for widening a section of Little Road south of 54.

Each private room in the hospital tower has a 32-inch flat-screen HD TV, bathroom, Internet access and space for family.

Massengill opens a wall-mounted station in one of the cancer ward patient rooms.

In Community Hospital, physicians wheel portable computers from patient room to patient room. Here, at the new facility, they’re incorporated into the decor. There are charts on the walls with which patients can indicate pain. The beds have weight scales. There's room for families, and room service will be offered.

There was sunshine coming in through a window at the end of a quiet hallway leading to a vacant nurses station.

“It’s just nice and bright for them to see outside,” Massengill said.

The Community Hospital property has stood at the corner of Marine Parkway and Grand Boulevard for about 40 years. It had to be retrofitted.

“We have (had) several occasions where all are delivery rooms were full,” and they had patients on waiting lists, Massengill said.

At Medical Center of Trinity, there are eight delivery rooms and 14 separate postpartum rooms to recover in after delivery. This means mothers have more room for visitors, and the hospital frees up delivery beds.

The center will have a dedicated pediatric emergency room, in addition to 30 emergency room beds, Massengill said. Community Hospital’s emergency room  serves 6,000 kids a year, but they’re treated in the main ER. 

There are eight general surgery rooms, and they have rotating equipment. There are two catheterization labs.

This is just a glimpse of the medical services offered at the new hospital. There is more. And for those who are visitors and not patients, there is a lobby, food services and conference center.

In addition to a hospital tower, the Medical Center campus will have a 90,000-square-foot medical arts building housing doctors offices, but it will open after the hospital.

The hospital site plans leave room to expand its footprint on the property as well as increase the hospital floors from five to eight. About 25-30 physicians have been added to the Medical Center staff in recent months, she said.

Community Hospital is New Port Richey's largest private taxpayer. City Manager John Schneiger and his staff have been talking to Massengill and her staff about .

“We’re unclear at this point” on what will go into the vacated area, Massengill said.

Right now, the hospital is working with the state to determine the structure ould be used for. Whatever moves in should be “economical” and practical” for HCA,  Massengill said.

Take a Look In the Hospital Before It Opens

• What: Open House, Facility tours, bounce houses, barbecue, Bayflite, Radio Disney, more
  
• When: Saturday, Nov. 19. Noon-4 p.m.
• Where: 9330 State Road 54, Trinity

For a full list of the services to be available at the Medical Center campus, visit http://medicalcenteroftrinity.com/our-services/index.dot