On Jan. 23, we celebrated UF Health’s newest and most ambitious initiative to enhance the patient experience with a groundbreaking ceremony for the UF Health Heart & Vascular Hospital and the UF Health Neuromedicine Hospital.

The event featured a video illustrating “The Power of Together” through patient stories, the unveiling of a sand sculpture of the new hospitals and speakers, including David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., UF senior vice president for health affairs and UF Health president; Ed Jimenez, UF Health Shands interim CEO; Steven M. Scott, M.D., UF Board of Trustees chairman; and new UF President W. Kent Fuchs, Ph.D.

The new specialty hospital building will be located east of the UF Health Shands Cancer Hospital. It will offer 216 beds, including 120 ICU beds and 20 state-of-the-art ORs, and it will also have a new 600-space parking garage for patients and visitors. Construction will cost approximately $415 million and the facility will open in 2018.