Connection to comprehensive care: Skybridge linking parking garage with the future Baptist Jacksonville Entry Building/Wolfson Children’s Critical Care Tower opens

The skybridge joining the P2 parking garage and Baptist Health’s downtown campus opened to the public Friday, connecting patients, visitors and team members with world-class health care. The new bridge bypasses Palm Avenue to provide a safe point of entry for pedestrians and currently leads to a staircase close to the hospital’s entrance.

The skybridge’s opening marks the next phase of construction for the Baptist Jacksonville Entry Building/Wolfson Children’s Critical Care Tower, slated to be complete in early 2022. Once the building is finished, the bridge will connect to the new tower’s second-floor lobby and serve as the entrance for Baptist Jacksonville and Wolfson Children’s Hospital. The tower will be the new “front door” for the downtown campus, increasing visibility from I-95 and further improving accessibility to the medical center for patients and visitors.

“When patients and visitors arrive on our campus, they can safely avoid vehicle traffic via a walkway from the third floor of P2 garage,” said Michael A. Mayo, FACHE, hospital president of Baptist Jacksonville. “This welcome addition transforms our flagship medical campus and reaffirms our commitment to connecting our community with easily accessible health care.”

When complete, the seven-story Wolfson Children’s Critical Care Tower will contain five floors dedicated to pediatric critical care, making Wolfson Children’s Hospital the second-largest children’s hospital in Florida. The building will include a 92-bed high-level Neonatal Intensive Care Center as well as a 35-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). The Neonatal Intensive Care Center will be comprised of three separate units, replacing the current 56-bed Level II and Level III Newborn ICUs at Wolfson Children’s Hospital, meeting Northeast Florida’s growing need for state-of-the-art critical care.

The new Wolfson Children’s Critical Care Tower will also integrate with Baptist Jacksonville’s high-risk obstetrics and neonatal delivery center and provide world-class care to families for decades to come. The tower will feature education systems, state-of-the-art equipment and natural room light to support patients, physicians and families, and will help facilitate life-saving care and treatment in the near future.

“This skybridge highlights the continued progress we are making in construction of the Wolfson Children’s Critical Care Tower,” said Michael D. Aubin, FACHE, president of Wolfson Children’s Hospital. “This world-class facility will provide life-saving and life-changing care to children in Northeast Florida and far beyond. When patients and families cross this bridge, they will be filled with hope for healthy futures.”