UHealth on track to open in Doral

UHealth at Doral is on track to open its doors Sept. 16 as construction progresses and provider recruitment plans continue.

“Construction is nearing 70% completion now,” said Vandana Pathak, assistant vice president of ambulatory service for the University of Miami Health System. “We’re well on our way for that first patient day [Sept. 16], and all major-medical equipment to support operations has been purchased and will be installed … as early as March 2024. There’s going to be a lot of activity within the building. You won’t see it outside, but you’ll see the activity within.”

The facility that provides academic-based healthcare will offer different specialties such as cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, executive medicine, GI/endoscopy, gynecology, interventional radiology, oncology and ophthalmology.

As medical equipment is purchased and plans continue to roll out for the ambulatory medical center at 8375 NW 53 Terr., providers are also being welcomed to the UHealth at Doral team.

“Provider recruitment began late last year and we continue to make great progress,” said Ms. Pathak. “We’re probably about 50%-60% complete with the provider recruitment, and staff recruitment started as well … in September 2023. That includes hiring over 300 nurses, techs, support staff … to support the building, and we continue to make good progress there as well. We’re really excited.”

Parking will also be facilitated as both a valet and parking garage will be available.

“There will be a valet as well as a 480-space parking garage,” said Ms. Pathak. “Patients and family members, as well as staff, have the ability to park in that parking garage and it’s … right across from the new building. If patients and families would like to valet, we would have valet services right at the front of the main entrance.”

The progress of the parking garage will allow it to open simultaneously with UHealth at Doral.

“The exterior [of the parking garage] is complete,” said Ms. Pathak. “Now, they’re in the interior spaces and just fitting out all of the wiring, the electrical, the sprinkler systems and it will be open at the same time as the building.”

Patients and families have also had the opportunity to be involved.

“We have a patient and family advisory council. It’s … called the Patient-and Family-Centered Care program…. The feedback, the engagement of patients and families in the design and construction of the facility continue to be our top priority,” said Ms. Pathak. “We actually have picked patients and family members from Doral and the surrounding areas, because they seek care already at UHealth sites.”

“They told us they wanted the design to be welcoming, calming, healing, and their feedback was incorporated into the design elements such as wayfinding and signage, public flow and space access, exam room setup, even the furniture and fixtures they had a part in… Even as the building is constructed, they’re walking the construction site with us, and they’re telling us if there’s something that looks off or something that can be improved.”

In addition, the site will provide opportunities to current staff members and open doors for future ones.

“There’s a lot of employees that live in that area that may work already at UHealth sites that may want to work closer to home, so we’re excited to offer that convenience for our staff too,” said Ms. Pathak. “Downtown Doral and Doral in general is growing as well, so there’s been a lot of interest from a job application perspective to work at UHealth. I think a lot of people are proud to work in an academic medical center with a great reputation like UHealth.”

UHealth at Doral’s entry into the city was a two-phase process that began with the building adjacent to it located at 8333 NW 53rd St.

“We already have the first phase open, and now we’re opening the second phase.… We opened the first phase which is … our Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center component that has urology, dermatology, [and] other services that opened in September 2022 to service our patients and … it’s been a success,” said Ms. Pathak. “The patients love the facility.… Patient satisfaction scores are through the roof. It’s been a success.”

“Once our new facility, UHealth at Doral, opens … those services will transition to the new building,” she said, “and then we will backfill the existing building with additional multi-specialty services.

“Opening this facility in Doral really allows us to provide more UHealth specialties to our patients and [to] a really quickly growing area…. Population is growing, a lot of communities are coming in and a lot of corporate industries are coming in as well. We’re committed and we’re extremely proud to expand UHealth into Doral and we’re excited to be that healthcare provider of choice.”