Pensacola-based Baptist Health Care’s new $650-million hospital campus opened in late September. It is the largest single capital investment in a health care facility in Northwest Florida history.

BHC President and CEO Mark Faulkner discusses the impact the new facility will have on the Northwest Florida community and the challenges faced from the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Sally. Faulkner was joined in the discussion by hospital administrator Brett Aldridge.

On time, on budget

“Staying on budget was definitely a challenge. We all know what happened over the past three years to supply chains and construction costs from a labor and materials standpoint. Our timing with respect to the bond market and our general contractor locking in contract pricing had a lot to do with our success. Our partners stuck with those prices despite inflation and rising construction and labor costs,” says Faulkner.

The big move

“The challenge we faced was moving more than 140-plus inpatients across town from our old campus to our new campus in one day. So operational readiness was critical,” Aldridge says. “To plan for this event, we did mock moves weeks in advance… It's really hard to detail the amount of preparation, time, energy and effort our team has spent on this. But in my opinion, it has been nothing short of incredible.”

Tackling challenges

Faulkner says he’s proud of how the team has dealt with a series of challenges. “I’m most proud of the resiliency of our entire staff through the last three years because we dealt with COVID-19, because we dealt with the effects of Hurricane Sally and the crippling economic damage that storm caused in shutting down the Pensacola Bay Bridge for nine months. We could easily have said, you know, let’s wait, put this massive project on hold and see how things turn out,” he explains. “Instead, we said let’s charge ahead, go faster and stick with it. And that attitude and commitment are what has led up to this point — opening on time and on budget. I’m also very proud that we have built these transformative health care facilities to withstand the test of time and to serve this community and Northwest Florida’s health care needs for decades to come.” 

• Entire campus encompasses 57 acres
• 600,000 square feet in new 10-story hospital
• 264 inpatient beds
• Level 2 trauma center with 61 exam rooms
• The six-story Bear Family building for outpatients and physician offices has 178,000 square feet.
• A stand-alone Behavioral Medicine building has 72 beds and 49,000 square feet.
• A stand-alone, 80,000-sq.-ft. medical office building is under construction.