Martin Memorial Health Systems continued its push to serve the sprawling communities of western St. Lucie County by opening a new emergency care center last week in St. Lucie West.

The center is just 3 miles from the spot in Tradition where the non-profit healthcare organization wants to build a new hospital.

Martin Memorial officials have long seen a need in western St. Lucie County for expanded medical services. The area’s rapid-fire growth four years ago propelled Port St. Lucie into the nation’s top spot for fastest growing cities, and the western sprawl has put residents farther away from the county’s main hospitals — HCA Inc.-owned Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce and St. Lucie Medical Center in eastern Port St. Lucie.

Lawnwood Regional is about 9 miles from the heart of St. Lucie West — where Martin Memorial’s new emergency clinic opened Sept. 1 — while St. Lucie Medical Center is about 7 miles away.

The clinic, located at the health system’s existing facility at 1095 N.W. St. Lucie West Blvd., is about 9,100-square-feet with 12 beds. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The facility is staffed and equipped to handle acute injuries and illnesses, but is intended to serve less serious ailments, hospital officials said.

Patients requiring a hospital stay will be taken to one in an ambulance.

Martin Memorial moved a step closer last month to building a hospital in Tradition after a state administrative law judge affirmed a state decision to allow one there.

The state decision two years ago was appealed by Lawnwood Regional and St. Lucie Medical. HCA officials said last week that they will file exceptions to the latest ruling and decide whether to appeal again based on the final order from the state Agency for Health Care Administration, which regulates healthcare facilities in Florida.

“What we fail to realize is better health care is not based on the closest facility, but the best doctors, with the most experience, at the best hospital,” Rodney Smith, chief executive officer of Lawnwood, said in a prepared statement.

Tags: business, Health, Martin County, Martin Memorial Health Systems, St. Lucie County, Tradition

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 11:05 am and is filed under Economy, Health, Martin County, St. Lucie County, Tradition, Treasure Coast business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.