· Cape Coral VA facility unveils 'healing environment,' added capabilities
· 12:10 AM, Sep. 28,
· Written by
· Frank Gluck
·
· Scott Rogowski shows off an operating room at the VA outpatient clinic in north Cape Coral that opens in December. / Andrew West/news-press.com
· The facility
· • Location: 2489 Diplomat Parkway E., Cape Coral.
• Open date: Dec. 17
• Size: 220,000 square feet
• Some of what it offers: Eight operating rooms, four soundproof audiology booths for hearing evaluation, a 3,200-square-foot laboratory, a 4,500-square-foot pharmacy and nine dental offices.
· The first thing apparent when you step inside the soon-to-open VA outpatient clinic in Cape Coral is the light.
· Broad windows and expansive views of the surrounding landscape define the new 220,000-square-foot building on Diplomat Parkway. The concept is part practical — it helps reduce the electric bill for artificial lighting — and part therapeutic.
· The front lobby design includes a four-story “glass curtain” wall to flood the building with sunlight and convey a wide open sense of space.
· “It’s very much a healing environment,” said Suzanne Klinker, director of the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, which oversees the new clinic. “Light makes everyone feel good.”
· Klinker, assorted VA officials and members of the media got an early look inside the new $60 million building Thursday, almost three months before its scheduled Dec. 17 opening date.
· Today, construction is largely done and workers are installing medical equipment and furniture.
· The new clinic is triple the size of the VA clinic in Fort Myers and has room for expansion on the 30-acre site, officials say.
· It is designed to serve the estimated 250,000 veterans living in Southwest Florida, snowbird veterans and the more than 31,000 patients the Fort Myers clinic saw last year.
· Like the existing 14-year-old clinic on Winkler Extension in Fort Myers, this facility is an outpatient clinic only and is not designed for overnight stays.
· But it allows for expanded services including primary care, orthopedics, imaging and health testing, mental health, dental services and women’s care.
· The new building includes eight operating rooms, four soundproof audiology booths for hearing evaluation, a 3,200-square-foot laboratory, a 4,500-square-foot pharmacy and nine dental offices, according to Manhattan Construction, which supervised the project.
· Unlike the existing clinic, the new facility also will have an on-site coffee and food “bistro” for staff and visitors.
· The VA is recruiting another 70 hospital staffers, including doctors and nurses, who will bring the total employee number to 400.
· Some preference will be given to veterans, said VA spokesman Jason Dangel.
· “We really enjoy employing veterans — veterans serving veterans in our facility,” he said.
Cape Coral Florida
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