HCA Florida Twin Cities Hospital held a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday to celebrate the opening of its $14 million emergency room expansion, a move CEO Todd Jackson says will significantly enhance healthcare services for Niceville-area residents.

The 18-month construction project has doubled the size of the hospital’s ER from 8 beds to 16 beds across 13 acute care rooms and three dedicated fast track bays.

• The expanded facilities also feature new specialized rooms for mental health, women’s health, trauma care and weight loss surgery patients.

“Our emergency department has continued to grow year after year. One of the biggest challenges that we had was space limitation and so this particular project effectively doubled the size of the ER,” said Todd Jackson, CEO of HCA Florida Twin Cities Hospital.

Jackson said the expansion was designed collaboratively with nurses and physicians at the hospital to include state-of-the-art amenities they need to provide prompt, quality care. This includes a significantly enlarged trauma room to accommodate the latest medical technologies at patients’ bedsides.

“Decades ago we didn’t have portable x-rays so the patient would have to be wheeled over to the x-ray room that would produce film and they would stick it up in the film box to see what was broken,” Jackson explained. “Today, it’s all digital. So they wheel the digital x-ray into the trauma room, they snap the photo, and it pops up on a high resolution screen right there. The physician can make a decision without having to move or transport that patient.”

Hospital staff have already transitioned into using the new ER facilities over the past few weeks after receiving the necessary regulatory approvals. Jackson said the $14 million project was completed on time and on budget thanks to detailed coordination and weekly progress meetings between hospital leadership, contractors and subcontractors.

While no CEO wants to see community members requiring emergency care, Jackson said the expansion will allow hospital staff to provide that care more efficiently when it is needed.

• “The expansion enables us to do just that. That’s the biggest piece is that it all revolves around the patient,” he explained. “The hospital healthcare industry is one of the few industries in this country, perhaps in the world, where the patient or the customer doesn’t want to come and see you.”

The ER expansion is anticipated to serve over 20,000 patients in 2024. It also includes a new dedicated lounge area for EMS personnel.

“Providing compassion, explaining what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, delivering on that promise to provide efficient care for the patient, I think is a good thing when we’re able to deliver on that,” added Jackson. “And this project allows us to do that.”