PORT ST. LUCIE — HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital has opened a new neonatal intensive care unit and expanded its labor and delivery floor, a move aimed at addressing gaps in maternity and newborn services as St. Lucie County’s population continues to grow.
Dr. Alex Koetzle, a neonatal specialist affiliated with the hospital, said the expansion reflects both increased demand and longstanding limitations in local care.
“St. Lucie County has grown tremendously and there was a need to improve the services,” Koetzle said. “Until now, it used to be what we call a level one, so we only provided services for the regular newborns, and if there was any complication, basically, the babies needed to be transferred out of St. Lucie County.”
Koetzle said the new NICU provides relief for families with higher-risk pregnancies by reducing the need for travel outside the county.
“I mean, we still have a very large high-risk population that at some point in time needs to deliver somewhere, and so this gives them the opportunity also not to have to move to another county,” he said. “The obstetrician feels comfortable delivering their high-risk patients in St. Lucie and also being able to keep the babies in the hospital with the mother and at the same time also provide the appropriate care.”
While some complex cases may still require transfers, Koetzle said most newborns needing advanced care can now be treated at the hospital.
To support the expanded services, the hospital has added specialized staff trained specifically in neonatal and intensive care.
“It applies to the need of nursing staff that is capable,” Koetzle said. “So now the hospital has hired very specialized nurses that actually dedicate their time only to neonatal services and to the intensive care in the hospital.”
The expansion also significantly increases the hospital’s capacity to care for newborns requiring intensive treatment.
“We had a holding area and all the newborns used to be in the room with the mother unless they needed some specialized situation, and we had a room for two beds until we transferred the baby out,” Koetzle said. “Now we have 25 intensive care unit beds. This is a tremendous growth.”
The hospital is currently licensed for 25 NICU beds, with 15 operational. Hospital officials expect the remaining 10 beds to be added by the summer.