Nemours Slated To Begin Construction On $400M Facility
A new $400 million children's hospital will begin construction in Orange County on Thursday.
The facility will be built at the site of the University of Central Florida's medical center at Lake Nona.
The Nemours Children's Hospital will provide a home for young patients with rare illnesses to get specialized care.
Workers will begin construction Thursday morning, and the people behind the project promised a children's hospital with specialized pediatric health care that isn't currently offered in Central Florida.
Nemours officials said children with serious illnesses who have had to travel great distances for treatment and transplants will now be able to get the care they need close to home.
The hospital as planned will have 95 beds and is scheduled to open in 2012.
"I think this is absolutely huge, and bringing this holistic approach in an integrated pediatric health care (facility) is going to be great for parents and families, and they're not going to have to travel outside the region anymore to get the health care they need and deserve," Nemours spokesman Jarrod Cady said.
Nemours currently has a transplant program in Delaware, and they hope to duplicate that and bring it to the new facility in Orlando.
Another focus at the hospital will be to have the same nurses and doctors for patients whether they're seen in the hospital or at the clinic.
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