Halifax Health breaks ground on ER in underserved Deltona
DELTONA — Halifax Health forged ahead with its plans to build a vast complex of medical facilities in west Volusia County, holding a groundbreaking ceremony Friday morning for a freestanding emergency room, the first of four projects planned.
For a city that’s been actively courting healthcare providers for at least the last five years, the occasion was overdue and welcomed. Even with its some 90,000 residents — the most populated city in the county — major health care development has eluded the city of Deltona.
“There’s no other way to say it, it’s a proud day for the city,” said Jerry Mayes, Deltona’s economic development manager. The effort to bring greater access to health care to Deltona goes back at least two decades, but Mayes became actively involved within the last five years.
It was Mayes who made the call to Halifax when nearby providers said they weren’t interested in developing any large-scale, brick-andmortar presence. Now, some of the same hospitals are calling him back, but it’s a different conversation, Mayes said. “They’re sending their site selectors and real estate people, so we still have folks looking.”
If Halifax’s plans come to fruition, Deltona will also be the home to two more medical office buildings and a 95-bed hospital. Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford is also mounting a push into the city and is considering a 29-acre tract just south of Halifax site to build its own freestanding ER.
Halifax Health CEO Jeff Feasel stressed to the audience of about 250 people that the Halifax Board of Commissioners has only given its blessing for the first phase of their plans, which includes the ER and a medical office building.
The public health system is starting small, even with the 20-bed, 25,000-square-foot ER, which will be built in “a phased approach and based on demand,” Feasel said.
That means first building a 15,000-square-foot ER facility with 12 beds and constructing the rest when patient demand shows it is needed.