Miami-based Jackson Health System broke ground Wednesday on a new medical campus, Jackson West, designed to expand access west of downtown Miami, according to the Miami Herald.
The new campus is being built in Doral, Fla., which is regarded as a healthcare desert. It will include a 100-bed hospital called José Milton Memorial Hospital, an emergency department, children's ambulatory clinic and medical offices and clinics. Administrators expect the new hospital to serve more than 585,000 people within a five-mile radius, according to the report.
The hospital is named after the José Milton Foundation, which gifted $10 million to the Jackson Health Foundation — the largest single donation the foundation has received. Ana Viega-Milton, José Milton's daughter-in-law and the donor foundation's president, said the decision to donate to Jackson Health was to honor Mr. Milton's legacy. He was a Cuban immigrant who worked as a builder and developer in Miami. Mr. Milton was passionate about Jackson Health after the organization treated him for a brain tumor and other health issues. He died last year, according to the report.
Construction of the new campus will officially begin in early 2017 and the anticipated opening is slated for 2020. The total cost of the project is about $253 million, according to the report.