Gulf Coast Medical Center approved for $306M expansion

FORT MYERS, Fla. Lee Health’s board of directors approved a $306 million expansion at Gulf Coast Medical Center on Thursday.

The expansion of the medical center, located on 13681 Doctors Way, will include 268 beds and will add three levels to the hospital.

Gulf Coast Medical Center’s emergency center was overcrowded in March from “an unprecedented volume of patients.”

“They’ve had overcrowding, people sitting in ER a little longer than they would like, I’m sure,” Fort Myers resident Linda Postoriano said.

It led Lee Health to issue a community plea, advising those needing emergency care to use Lee Memorial Hospital, HealthPark Medical Center, Cape Coral Hospital or Lehigh Regional Hospital.

Now, the expansion will add 216 acute care beds, beds accommodating patients whose length of stay is less than 30 days, and 52 intensive therapy unit beds, Dave Kistel, vice president of facilities and support services at Lee Memorial Health System.

“We’ll be doubling the size of the emergency room, we’ll be expanding radiology, the laboratory cardiovascular, respiratory, dialysis center, the central energy plant and a lot of the supporting service functions to the hospital,” Kistel said.

The trauma center will be moved from Lee Memorial Hospital to Gulf Coast Medical Center.

The medical center will remain open during the four-year project and construction is scheduled to start mid-September.