The University of Florida continues to show it wants to grow the health options in the state of Florida and they are doing so with one hospital at a time.
One of newest ones will include the construction of UF Health Durbin Park in St. Johns County, which was announced during a groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 21.
The project will lead to the construction of a 395,000 square-foot and 150-bed facility that will offer acute, intensive and emergency care, while featuring operating rooms, an imaging suite and hybrid labs for interventional procedures.
“With UF Health Durbin Park, we’re poised to become pioneers of innovation, compassion and excellence in health care delivery,” said Carlton DeVooght, president and CEO of UF Health St. Johns. “This won’t just be a hospital; it will be a cornerstone of our community. A place where patients will find comfort, families will find solace and caregivers will find purpose.”
Work began on site, just off State Road 9B near the Durbin Park area in St. Johns, in December and the very early stages of development could already be seen from the groundbreaking ceremony held on location.
The hospital will be under UF Health St. Johns, which is a division of UF Health that is dedicated to advancing the health communities in Northeast Florida.
“Together we can change the way of health care in the state of Florida, through a legacy of excellence,” DeVooght said.
It is just the latest step UF Health has made toward becoming more a part of the health care scene in the region, as it will join the UF Health Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, which was a partnership announced last year during another highly touted ceremony, as well as having several multispecialty practices in the area at UF Health Nocatee and UF Health MuraBella.
According to Mori Hosseini, who is serving as chair on the University of Florida’s board of trustees, UF Health was “dead last” at one point on Flagler Health’s list of potential partners but won out in the end, and he expects that same tenacity to help make UF Health Durbin Park what it will become.
“The University of Florida has such a bold vision for Northeast Florida, and make no mistake, the University of Florida does not do small things,” Hosseini said. “This is a game-changer and something we will be able to look back at with pride. We’re thinking outside the box and pushing the boundaries.”
Part of that game-changing approach is that once completed, UF Health Durbin Park is projected to bring 2,000 new jobs to the area, which will be part of a larger 12,000 jobs across the UF Health facilities throughout Jacksonville and St. Johns County over time, as part of UF Health’s $1 billion investment in Northeast Florida.
“I look around and I see so many friends who have helped make this day possible,” Hosseini said. “Behind every treatment is a human being, and people matter. We aren’t just here today to celebrate a building being built; we are here to celebrate what comes next.”
