With the countdown to opening at less than four days, workers streamed in and out of Cleveland Clinic Florida’s newest South Florida facility on Thursday installing and testing the final pieces of high-tech equipment.

On July 16, the clinic is scheduled to open its three-story, 73,000-square-foot Coral Springs Family Health Center at the southeast corner of North University Drive and the Sawgrass Expressway.

Inside, most of the pieces were in place and ready for use: large, naturally lit waiting rooms with carefully curated art on the wall — “shown to be beneficial for healing,” said Arlene Allen-Mitchell, the clinic’s director of communications and media.

Built for about $33 million and equipped for another $20 million, the facility is not a hospital or trauma center, but an ambulatory surgical center with 17 medical specialties and imaging and diagnostic services. It was developed through a joint venture between the clinic and Jupiter-based Rendina Healthcare Real Estate.

Services will include gastroenterology, orthopedic surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, podiatry, urology, sports health, hand surgery, gynecology and breast surgery.

Clinic patients will be referred for digital and 3D mammograms, CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, general X-rays and fluoroscope imaging.

The center also includes 40 exam rooms, 24 prep and recovery rooms, and four state-of-the-art operating rooms, with another two coming in the future.

The operating rooms are big — 300 square feet each, with ample empty space surrounding the operating table, anesthesiology equipment, various light and power sources and diagnostic equipment, and flat-screen monitors.

Juan Nogueras, the center’s medical director, said he has worked in smaller operating rooms “and this is much better.” He pointed out that a typical surgery involves numerous clinicians — an anesthesiologist, circulating nurse, scrub nurse, surgical team and additional equipment.

“In operations, it’s like an orchestra,” he said. “There’s a rhythm to it,” with specialized personnel carrying out vital tasks. “That’s why having space is important.”

Source: SunSentinel