Jacqueline Bostick|The News Herald

LYNN HAVEN Lynn Haven couldl soon welcome a free standing emergency room.

City commissioners unanimously approved Tuesday a development order on the behalf of Ascension Sacred Heart Bay for the15,000 square-foot facility.

"I just love the idea that it'sgoing to be so close to Lynn Haven. It's going to help an awful lot of people," said Commissioner Judy Tinder. "It's going to be great for our community."

No date has been set for the start of construction, officials said.

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The ER will be located at 3135 State Road 77 on a 6.77-acre lot just south of the local social security office. It will have 13 treatment roomsand two trauma rooms staffed by emergency medicine physicians, nursesand respiratory therapists, according to officials. The ER will also have a lab, CT scannerand X-ray imaging.

At the meeting, representatives of the project described the ER as a "regional ambulatory trauma center" that will bring "good things for Lynn Haven."

"Our new Emergency Center will be open 24 hours a day and will include separate areas for treatment of children and adults," Heath Evans, president of Ascension Sacred Heart Bay, said in a news release Friday.This is part of our ongoing efforts to extend our outpatient services into the community and provide high-quality care at a time and place convenient to patients."

The new facility will be similar to the ER that ASH operates on Panama City Beach, officials said. The new free-standing facility will be supported by the Level II Trauma Center at the ASHon 6thStreet and by the Studer Family Children's Hospital at Sacred Heart, located in Pensacola.

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The 6thStreet location recently held a reopening ceremony for its facilities. The event gave a moment of reflection on the impact of Hurricane Michael on medical services and the commitment ASH continues to make to regain ground and grow those services.

Evans said in a news release Friday that the Lynn Haven area is no exception.

"We have a long history of serving Lynn Haven before some services were displaced by Hurricane Michael and we look forward to expanding access to emergency services in a growing community," he said.

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Ascension Sacred Heart to open free standing ER in Lynn Haven - The News Herald