Memorial Hospital Pembroke to replace 24/7 Care Center with new emergency room
The 24/7 Care Center at Memorial Hospital Pembroke is getting an upgrade this year to lower wait times and make care more convenient for patients.
The Memorial Healthcare System Douglas Road ER is part of an effort to build more freestanding emergency departments in South Florida, serving more patients.
The 24/7 Care Center remains open during construction, and the new emergency department will open in early July.
“The Douglas site has been around for many years, it’s served the community with excellent service,” Dr. Louis Jane, emergency medical director of the ER, told the Miramar News in an interview.
It was built in 1975, and Jane says standards have changed.
The new interior will have closed door rooms rather than curtains to separate patients. It will also be larger than the care center, steps away from the original building.
“For the patient, the resources from Memorial Hospital Pembroke will be available for them,” Memorial Hospital Pembroke CEO Felicia Turnley said in an interview.
If needed, patients can access CT scanning, X-rays, ultrasound and a full lab. The ER will serve adult and pediatric patients.
The staff at the 24/7 Care Center will move to the new emergency department once finished.
“It’s allowing patients, particularly with any kind of disease process … access to this care, and they don’t have to go to the main hospitals to get this same level of care,” Jane said.
The current 24/7 Care Center is not an urgent care center, but a freestanding outpatient emergency center that aims to have patients in and out in two hours or less.
The Douglas Road ER could potentially decompress the main hospital, along with another freestanding emergency department being built in Miramar and set to open the week of June 8.
Both will be under the license of Memorial Hospital Pembroke.
“We’re really excited to be almost to the opening of both, and our teams have been very actively involved in all the construction and anticipation of the future to come,” Turnley said.
