FORT MYERS, Fla. — On May 10, 2017 Southwest Florida received its first and only children’s hospital.
Now five years later, The Golisano’s Children’s Hospital is celebrating five years of service to the Southwest Florida community.
Although celebrations started on Monday, May 9, the hospital says they’ll be celebrating all week. On Tuesday, the true anniversary, team members from the hospital will be outside the facility for a picture of all members.
A drone flew over the team members Tuesday to capture the group at the peak of their milestone anniversary.
Originally the hospital was inside HealthPark Medical Center in Fort Myers. In 2017, after a 20 million dollar donation from philanthropist Tom Golisano, they were able to house the beautiful, seven-story facility that you see now.
Neonatal nurse manager Carly Majewski says moving from HeatlhPark to the new building is an experience she'll always remember.
"In the old unit we had an open base," Majewski explained, "so your next door neighbor as a baby was a whole different family about a foot away from you. Now you have your own room and your own space to grow as a family."
According to Lee Health, the hospital has helped over 95,000 people through child advocacy programs. They see over 30,000 patients each year and have over 500 pediatric providers.
Currently, Golisano Children’s Hospital is the only children’s hospital between Tampa and Miami and has the only neonatal intensive care unit in the region.
