Fort Walton Beach Medical Center

The Challenge

Barge Design Solutions assisted HCA with the $80-million Fort Walton Beach Medical Center expansion project. This project is part of the HCA North Florida Division’s estimated impact of over $200 million to the local economy in the Okaloosa/Fort Walton Beach area. The project allows for increased Intensive Care Unit (ICU), med-surg stepdown, and PACU bed capacity. The expansion also enhances the hospital’s heart program with dedicated cardiovascular ICU patient rooms, which connect directly to the surgical suite. With the facility’s continued focus on the future, the two-story tower was designed for vertical expansion to allow for future growth to serve the community.

Normal operations were required to be maintained throughout the duration of the project. A temporary mobile kitchen was utilized to maintain food service to patients, staff, and families during the major renovation of the existing kitchen and servery.

The Solution

This $48 million dollar expansion and renovation included a new two-story patient tower with 42 additional beds, additional Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) positions, a new loading dock, expansion to materials management, renovation to the medical center’s dining and kitchen area, and a parking garage expansion with 150 new parking spaces. The patient tower was designed for a future two-story vertical expansion. For convenience and visual access to patients, a central nurse station was incorporated into the design and offers a direct line of sight to all patient rooms and corridor charting stations. The majority of patient rooms were designed to be identical to one another. This maximizes their flexibility of use, contributing to the expediency of medical care and less chance for patient error.

A new connector bridge at the second-floor level provides convenient access from the existing towers to the patient units on the upper floors. This connector also facilitates the movement of supplies and services at the second-floor level.

The project utilizes prefabricated features such as exterior wall panels, patient headwalls, patient toilets, and casework. This method of construction saves the client time and financial resources, as repetitive elements are built off-site and installed as soon as the construction process allows.

The Result

Barge's extensive experience in healthcare facility design lends to efficiency in designing innovative and effective layouts for medical staff, patients, and visitors. FWBMC is designed to be intuitive and easily accessible. By incorporating these concepts into the facility, the goal is to lessen patient and family anxiety. The new design takes advantage of daylight and views. These are prioritized for use in family waiting areas, lobbies, offices, and, most importantly, staff lounges.

This project is part of the HCA North Florida Division’s estimated impact of over $200 million on the local economy in the Okaloosa/Fort Walton Beach area. Mitch Mongell, CEO of FWBMC, said, "These projects are part of Fort Walton Beach Medical Center's focus on the future and commitment to improving access to high-quality health care and service on behalf of our community."