HCA Florida to open new freestanding emergency room in Winter Garden

Winter Garden’s Dr. Larissa Dub is thrilled to see the construction work being done on HCA Florida West Orange Emergency, a new freestanding emergency room being built in Winter Garden. 

Dub, a psychological director at HCA Florida Osceola Hospital, has been driving to Kissimmee for the past seven years to provide medical care. 

With the new West Orange Emergency being built at 1320 Daniels Road, Dub will be able to serve her community. 

“I’m really excited to be able to serve the community I live in and have an opportunity to continue growing relationships with the individuals that are part of my community,” Dub said. “We have a lot of resources and service lines we’ll be able to offer the patients in our community.”

Dub is one step closer to working close to home. 

She, along with various other HCA Florida Osceola Hospital staff, celebrated the construction of West Orange Emergency during a ceremony Friday, March 14. 

Construction on the facility began in September 2024, and the emergency room is expected to be open in August or September. 

David Shimp, CEO of HCA Florida Osceola Hospital, considers the new West Orange Emergency as the organization’s Normandy. 

“We’re demonstrating the first of what will end up being a series of continued investments in West Orange,” Shimp said. “We fully get patients have choice, and that’s part of why we’re excited to be able to provide this here: to provide an additional choice if that patient needs it.”

As the largest network of health care providers, West Orange Emergency will be HCA Florida’s 13th freestanding emergency room across the greater Orlando metro area. 

The $16 million, 11,570-square-foot freestanding emergency room will have staff with the ability to provide 24/7, board-certified, expert care in emergency medicine. 

“Being able to bring that closer to population densities and closer to home is such an important part of how we’re caring for our community,” Shimp said. 

Winter Garden City Commissioner Chloe Johnson said she is excited to have HCA join the community and bring quality health care options to the city. She said HCA Florida’s presence in the community strengthens the local health care community. 

Photo by Liz Ramos

“Having choices empowers individuals and families to make the best decisions for their health,” she said. 

Shimp said Winter Garden has been ranked one of the top four booming cities across the United States and recognized as one of the best places to live, work and play. That is why HCA Florida chose Winter Garden as the area to build its next freestanding emergency room. 

“Generally speaking, we have become a healthier population,” Shimp said. “However, the necessity to be able to have access to emergency services is still very prevalent. When we look across all systems, all markets within the greater Orlando metro area, 75% of the inpatient admissions originate through an emergency department. Emergency services are and will continue to be an important component of how health care is provided within communities and in emergency situations, minutes, even seconds, end up counting.”

Shimp said by the time someone arrives at the emergency room, that person should be seen within five minutes by a physician or provider. For a majority of patients, it only will be about an hour-and-a-half between when they are seen to when they are discharged.

“The days of long waits in the emergency department end up being a thing of the past,” Shimp said. 

Dr. Jonathan Ortiz said the emergency facility will be staffed with board-certified emergency medicine physicians and nurses skilled to handle a variety of medical needs. 

“We’ll be here to treat a general to very specific ranges of news, from infectious diseases to strokes to broken bones, ear aids and chest pains but caring for families of all ages, especially our pediatric population,” Ortiz said.

The emergency facility will feature 11 rooms, one of which is a designated cardiopulmonary resuscitation and trauma room. There also will be diagnostic imaging, a CT scanner, ultrasound and X-ray capabilities as well comprehensive laboratory services. 

Ortiz said patients at West Orange Emergency will have the same level of care as at a hospital-based emergency department.