HEALTH FIRST leaders joined elected officials from Brevard County, other community leaders and associates and more for the groundbreaking on 3-2-1 Day of the new 120-bed Cape Canaveral Hospital and Medical Office Building on Merrit Island.

About 200 turned out for the much anticipated groundbreaking for Health First’s Cape Canaveral Hospital on Merritt Island on March 21 – 3-2-1 Day.

The new 268,000-square-foot Cape Canaveral Hospital will include:

• 120 private inpatient beds
• 25 Emergency Department treatment rooms, and
• 6 Operating Rooms. 

The hospital was designed for and will be built to withstand a Category 4 hurricane. The entire campus site will be constructed 13 feet above sea level to withstand storm surge, and the campus will be served by an on-site Central Energy Plant.

READ the full story and check out the photo gallery in Florida Today HERE.

“This new project has been in the works for a long time – and it truly speaks to Health First’s vision, mission and strategy to set our community up for success today and beyond,” said Health First’s Board Chair Kent Smith told those assembled, which included County Commissioners and other elected officials, health system board leaders and philanthropists, and media.  

Construction is slated to finish by the end of 2026 and the hospital will officially open to the public in early 2027. 

The new project will also include a new 3-story, 92,000-square-foot Medical Office Building.

The groundbreaking for the new Cape Canaveral Hospital campus comes just two weeks after ‘Newsweek’ named Cape Canaveral Hospital to its “Best Hospitals” list for 2024 – the fourth straight year Cape Canaveral has landed on the prestigious list – joining just two other Central Florida hospitals and 17 across the entire state of Florida.

“This Newsweek inclusion placing Cape Canaveral Hospital among the best hospitals in the nation and state of Florida is a tremendous honor for every one of our clinicians, associates and volunteers, and certainly kicks off what we are anticipating being a very impactful year at Health First,” said Brett Esrock, Executive Vice President and CFO/COO, Health First.

READ more and watch full coverage of the speakers at the groundbreaking in Space Coast Daily HERE.