Construction on the Carol Jenkins Barnett Pavilion for Women and Children, a $275 million addition to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, is at the halfway mark.

  • Facility scheduled to open in April 2018
  • Will feature first-in-the-county Level III Neonatal ICU
  • Project includes parking garage, education, auditorium space

The new facility, set to open in April 2018, will feature the county's first Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The addition will greatly aid the hospital's capacity to care for infants born prematurely and their mothers.
 
“We saw that a lot of patients are having to leave the area for services and we wanted to insure that they could stay here in Lakeland and receive the exceptional care that we deliver here at Lakeland Regional Health,” said Danielle Drummond, Lakeland Regional Health Exec. VP, COO.
 
Currently, the hospital has a Level II NICU unit, which provides the ability to care for babies weighing 2.2 pounds or more or those who are moderately ill, according to the hospital’s spokeswoman Jennifer Audette.
 
“We actually do see that there’s actually been a few thousand babies that have been —have had to transfer out,” said Dr. Natalie Adsuar, Lakeland Regional Health’s Executive Medical Director of OBGYN.
 
“We’ve looked at market data, and when you look at all of the high risk obstetrical patients as well as the pediatrics that need to leave the area, there would be thousands of patients that we see leaving the community for care that we’ll be able to provide here in Lakeland,” Drummond explained.
 
The new eight-story addition will also provide space for more specialists the county currently does not offer, such as a pediatric neurologist and cardiologist.   
 
“We’ll also have a dedicated operating suite, so that children are able to have that type of care delivered right here in this pavilion as well,” Drummond said.   
 
Also planned for the new pavilion are private suites for labor, delivery, recovery, and high-risk antepartum, a mother-baby unit designed to allow women and their newborns to room together, and a pediatric emergency department, according to a news release. A new parking garage, a new central energy plant to power the new building, and an education and auditorium space will complete the facility.