South Florida Baptist Hospital’s Grand Opening Ushers in New Beginning

The new South Florida Baptist Hospital is officially open. The 424,000-square-foot facility replaces the original hospital on Alexander Street, which served the Plant City, Florida, community for more than 70 years.  

As of 3 a.m. Saturday, the legacy hospital permanently closed and operational control shifted to the new, state-of-the-art hospital located at 3202 N. Park Road off Interstate 4 in Plant City, only four miles from the original location.  

Ambulances stood ready in the pre-dawn hours to transfer 67 patients to the new hospital. The highly coordinated event, which concluded at 9:10 a.m., went off seamlessly thanks to the help of IMH health care consultants, community partners in law enforcement, fire and rescue, transport services and dozens of BayCare team members.  

“I am extremely pleased with how the process went today with all patients being safely transported from the legacy hospital to the new hospital,” said South Florida Baptist Hospital President Karen Kerr. “We planned for this transition for more than a year and it’s wonderful to see the payoff of all the work that went into this extraordinary task.”  

Plant City native Wanda Garrett was among the patients transferred to the new hospital during today’s move. She visited South Florida Baptist Hospital’s legacy emergency department on Thursday after experiencing chest pain and underwent a cardiac catheterization shortly after arriving at the new location, the first patient to receive the treatment there. Garrett has been watching the new hospital's construction and is happy for the community to have a new facility. 

“I was awake at 4:30, up and excited to go. I think I was more excited than the employees. I wanted to see the new building, though not really under these circumstances. I always thought about a tour, but not as a patient,” Garrett laughed. “But they needed this new building, especially for the work they had to do on me.”  

Michael Sutherland, a Lutz resident, will soon have surgery on a leg that was partially amputated years ago. He has undergone several surgeries at South Florida Baptist Hospital, and noted every patient experience with BayCare has been extraordinary. 

“This has been a difficult part of life, but it has been made much easier by the care [I received],” said Sutherland. “The compassion and professionalism of the staff here—I couldn't recommend this hospital more. Everybody here has been amazing.” 

Areas of specialization include general surgery, orthopedic surgery, urology, imaging, cardiac catheterization, emergency care and labor/delivery. The hospital also features an 85,000-square-foot medical arts building with space for physician offices, as well as outpatient and diagnostic services such as imaging, rehabilitation and lab services, allowing patients to consolidate their health care needs in one location.  

The $326-million South Florida Baptist Hospital is the newest of BayCare’s 16 hospitals serving West Central Florida. 

For more information: SouthFloridaBaptist.org.