Artist’s rendering of expansion plans at Cleveland Clinic’s Richard E. Jacobs Campus in Avon

Project will significantly increase the size of the campus and includes expansions of both Avon Hospital and the Richard E. Jacobs Health Center

JULY 30, 2026 – AVON, Ohio: Cleveland Clinic leaders, caregivers, elected officials and community members gathered today to celebrate the groundbreaking of a transformative $322 million expansion of Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital and the Richard E. Jacobs Health Center. The multi-phase project will significantly increase the size of the campus and enhance access to advanced, patient-centered care for Lorain County’s growing population.

The expansion reflects Cleveland Clinic’s continued commitment to meeting the region’s healthcare needs by increasing capacity across emergency, inpatient and outpatient services while introducing new capabilities and modernized facilities.

“This marks an important milestone for the future of healthcare in Lorain County,” said Rebecca Starck, M.D., Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital. “As the community continues to grow, this investment ensures we can provide greater access to the high-quality care our patients deserve. This project will enhance nearly every aspect of the patient experience while supporting the needs of our caregivers and the communities we serve.”

Key components of the project include:

  • Expansion of the Emergency Department to increase capacity and improve patient flow.
  • Expansion of imaging services, including advanced MRI, CT, and other diagnostic capabilities.
  • An expanded Cancer Center with enhanced treatment and infusion space and the addition of two new external beam radiation oncology machines.
  • Growth of surgical services, including additional operating rooms at Avon Hospital.
  • Expansion of the Richard E. Jacobs Health Center to support increased outpatient care.
  • Increased medical-surgical capacity with additional inpatient beds.
  • Growth of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to support higher-acuity patients.
  • Construction of a parking garage

Upon completion, the project will add approximately 250,000 square feet of clinical space across the hospital and health center, along with a new parking garage to accommodate increased patient and visitor demand.

Together, these enhancements will strengthen Cleveland Clinic’s ability to deliver seamless care across emergency, inpatient and outpatient settings while improving access, efficiency and the overall patient experience.

“We are proud to be investing in our west submarket,” said Neil P. Smith, D.O., president of Cleveland Clinic’s West Submarket. “We have seen sustained growth in demand in this area, and this project will support complex and high-quality care that’s convenient for patients in these communities to access.”

Avon Hospital opened in 2016 as a five-story, 126-bed facility and has seen sustained growth in demand for its services. There has also been a growing need for outpatient services at the Richard E. Jacobs Health Center. Opened in 2011, the facility currently provides advanced specialty and primary care, an outpatient surgery center, a chemotherapy infusion center, an imaging center, and a large physical therapy area with two pools for aquatic therapy.

The expansion is expected to be complete in 2029.

The buildings were designed by HKS architects in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic Buildings + Design and key clinical stakeholders. The construction manager on the project is Gilbane Building.

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation, Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. Cleveland Clinic is consistently recognized in the U.S. and throughout the world for its expertise and care. Among Cleveland Clinic’s 83,000 employees worldwide are more than 6,600 salaried physicians and researchers, and 21,900 registered nurses and advanced practice providers, representing 140 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic is a 6,725-bed health system that includes a 173-acre main campus near downtown Cleveland, 23 hospitals, 300 outpatient facilities, including locations in northeast Ohio; Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Toronto, Canada; Abu Dhabi, UAE; and London, England. In 2025, there were 15.9 million outpatient encounters, 343,000 hospital admissions and observations, and 336,000 surgeries and procedures throughout Cleveland Clinic’s health system. Visit us at clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at x.com/CleClinicNews. News and resources are available at newsroom.clevelandclinic.org.



July 30, 2026 – Baptist Health South Florida and Lifepoint Rehabilitation, an operating division of Lifepoint Health, held a celebratory ribbon cutting on Wednesday to officially open the Baptist Health Rehabilitation Hospital in South Miami.  The new 62-bed, state-of-the-art building, located at 6201 Sunset Dr., expands regional access to specialized, patient-centered rehabilitation care for individuals recovering from a decline in function due to an injury or illness.

“Our partnership with Lifepoint Rehabilitation reflects our shared commitment to expanding access to specialized care and helping patients achieve the best possible outcomes,” said Ronald Tolchin, D.O., chief of nonsurgical spine care and rehabilitation, and Kalman Bass Endowed Chair in Pain and Rehabilitative Medicine at Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute, and chief medical officer of Baptist Health Rehabilitation Hospital. “With this new hospital, we can provide highly coordinated, individualized rehabilitation as part of a seamless continuum of care for patients recovering from complex injuries, illnesses and other serious medical conditions.”

The three-story, 100,000 square-foot facility is designed to serve more than 1,200 patients each year and will provide intensive therapy for patients suffering from traumatic medical situations such as a stroke, orthopedic injury or deconditioning after surgery or illness.

The hospital features specialty programs dedicated to neuro, stroke and amputation, alongside distinct clinical environments including bariatric suites, a dedicated neuro unit and rooms specially designed to treat dialysis patients. To promote movement and real-world adaptation, the facility also includes large interdisciplinary therapy gyms, a low-stimulation therapy gym and a therapeutic courtyard featuring gardens, walking paths, miniature golf and shuffleboard. Additionally, a transitional living apartment simulates a residential setting to help patients practice daily living tasks safely before being discharged home.

“Every community deserves access to specialized care that helps individuals reclaim their lives,” said Russ Bailey, president of Lifepoint Rehabilitation. “By combining Baptist Health’s clinical excellence in the region with our specialized rehabilitation framework, we maximize every day each patient spends with us, which enables us to care for more individuals each year. We’ve created an environment that inspires patients to push forward, backed by an exceptional team of clinicians who are fully dedicated to helping them safely transition back to their homes.”

To learn more about the new rehabilitation hospital and its services, please visit BaptistHealthRehabHospital.com.

About Baptist Health South Florida

Baptist Health South Florida is the largest healthcare organization in the region, with 12 hospitals, more than 29,000 employees, 4,500 physicians and 200 outpatient centers, urgent care facilities and physician practices spanning Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Baptist Health has internationally renowned institutes specializing in cancer care, brain and spine care, heart and vascular care and orthopedic care. In addition, it includes Baptist Health Medical Group; Baptist Health Quality Network; and the Baptist Health PineApp, a virtual health platform. Baptist Health South Florida is an academic and clinical affiliate of Florida International University. A not-for-profit organization supported by philanthropy and committed to its charitable mission of medical excellence, Baptist Health has been recognized by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America and is the most awarded healthcare system in South Florida by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit BaptistHealth.net/Newsroom and connect with us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

About Lifepoint Rehabilitation

With more than 50 freestanding inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), Lifepoint Rehabilitation is a leading partner of choice for many major hospital systems in the creation of joint venture operations that are industry-leading in clinical outcomes. Through its IRFs and more than 250 hospital-based rehabilitation units, medical/surgical and outpatient therapy settings, Lifepoint Rehabilitation brings proven rehabilitation management and services expertise to help our patients recover and return home quickly from a number of conditions, including strokes, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, orthopedic injuries, neurological conditions, amputations and trauma. Lifepoint Rehabilitation is an operating division of Brentwood, Tennessee-based Lifepoint Health.



August has a way of sneaking up on all of us. One minute we’re enjoying summer vacations, longer daylight hours, and the promise of a slower pace. The next minute, school buses are back on the road, lunch boxes are being packed, calendars are overflowing, and healthcare professionals are somehow expected to make it all look effortless.

Of course, if there were an Olympic event for juggling responsibilities, our nation’s healthcare workforce would bring home the gold medal every time.

For many physicians, nurses, administrators, therapists, and support staff, August represents the unofficial beginning of “organized chaos.” Children head back to school with new teachers, new routines, and enough paperwork to rival a hospital accreditation survey. Parents find themselves balancing early morning drop-offs, afternoon pickups, homework, sports practices, and the occasional science project that somehow becomes a family engineering challenge.

Meanwhile, the patients never stop coming.

Healthcare has never been a profession that follows the school calendar. Hospitals remain open 24 hours a day, emergency departments don’t recognize holidays, and illness certainly doesn’t wait until after soccer practice. Yet every year, healthcare professionals find remarkable ways to balance extraordinary careers while remaining devoted parents, spouses, caregivers, and community leaders.

In this month’s issue, we celebrate that balancing act. We recognize the dedication required to provide exceptional patient care while managing the everyday demands of family life. It’s a reminder that behind every white coat, scrub top, business suit, or security uniform is someone working hard to care for both patients and loved ones.

And let’s admit it—there’s always that annual back-to-school tradition of wondering if we’ll survive the first week. Coffee consumption mysteriously increases, alarm clocks seem to ring earlier than ever, and someone inevitably discovers at 10:00 p.m. that tomorrow is “dress like your favorite historical figure” day. Somehow, healthcare professionals handle these family emergencies with the same calm confidence they bring to their clinical responsibilities. That’s a talent worthy of recognition.

As you explore this August edition of South Florida Hospital News & Healthcare Report, you’ll find stories highlighting innovation, leadership, clinical excellence, and the people who continue to strengthen healthcare throughout our region. We hope these articles provide valuable insight while reminding you that you’re part of a remarkable community committed to improving lives every single day.

To everyone preparing for another busy season, remember to extend the same compassion to yourself that you so generously give to others. Make time for family dinners, celebrate the first day-of-school photos, enjoy the victories—large and small—and never underestimate the restorative power of a well-earned laugh.

From all of us at South Florida Hospital News & Healthcare Report, thank you for everything you do. We wish you and your families a successful, healthy, and rewarding back-to-school season.



By Vanessa Orr

Since 1988, KIDZ Medical Services—a private, physician owned multispecialty group specializing in neonatal, pediatric, and women’s healthcare—has cared for families across South Florida. Despite longstanding partnerships with 19 hospitals across five counties, many patients were not aware that KIDZ Medical was a distinct organization, prompting leadership to strengthen its brand presence.

KIDZ’s President & CEO, Wayne Brackin, engaged marketing and brand consultant and longtime South Florida resident Amanda Gonzalez nearly three years ago to chart a new strategic direction for the brand. After a deep discovery process, Gonzalez delivered a comprehensive plan and has since become an integral part of KIDZ’s ongoing growth and visibility efforts.

“I’d remained in touch with Wayne Brackin over the years from my time at Baptist Health, and always admired his leadership and mentorship style,” Gonzalez said. “I also knew of KIDZ’s cofounders, Dr. Jorge Perez and Dr. Albert Tano, because their clinical and personal reputations preceded them. Needless to say, I was intrigued by the opportunity to support the organization’s next stage.”

Brackin was clear on what KIDZ was looking for in a marketing leader. “I knew of her knowledge of the South Florida market, and I’d seen her lead the marketing efforts for several major facility launches, so I knew that experience would be invaluable as KIDZ prepared for its next phase of growth,” Brackin said.

That marked the start of their collective work. “We refined the brand standards and messaging while also building the infrastructure to elevate the organization’s reputation. We wanted to make sure families—and especially moms—could clearly see the depth of care, expertise, and collaboration behind the KIDZ name,” Gonzalez added.

She has since served as KIDZ’s fractional chief marketing leader while also consulting for other healthcare systems and organizations in Florida and the Midwest. Unlike a full time chief marketing officer, her consulting model provides executive level strategy through a flexible structure tailored to what each organization can sustain.

“I’m able to provide executive level guidance in a way that’s both forward thinking and adaptable,” she said. “It gives organizations the flexibility to move quickly and use their resources wisely, while ensuring they have the right level of strategic leadership at the right moment in their growth.”

Gonzalez adds that marketing leaders must keep pace with constant technology shifts—from AI and automation to personalization tools, performance tracking platforms, and patient acquisition systems. They also have to navigate fast changing market dynamics, including evolving consumer behavior, payer pressures, and competitive moves.

“What worked last year may not work today,” she said. “Marketing strategists have to be comfortable reinventing the toolkit so it’s effective for the moment, and for each unique client.”

A major focus at KIDZ has been strengthening digital and social visibility and online reputation. Where patients once relied mainly on physician referrals, today they often start with digital touchpoints—online business profiles and reviews, search results, and social media. A healthcare organization’s website isn’t the first digital impression point anymore.

To date, KIDZ Medical’s reputation and visibility have grown substantially by highlighting the expertise, training, and evidence-based practices that define its services and patient experience. Families, partners, and the broader community now have a clearer view of the professionalism and outcomes behind the organization’s work. These efforts have also driven excellent online patient ratings and a world class-level Net Promoter Score, reflecting the high trust and satisfaction patients and partners have in KIDZ Medical’s care.

These visibility improvements have also supported KIDZ’s business growth, contributing to increased patient volume across its locations, strengthening collaboration and referral pathways with hospital partners, and bolstering recruitment efforts.

For Gonzalez, seeing that trust deepen—especially among parents, partners, and team members—has been one of the most rewarding parts of the work. “The goal is ultimately not to be an outsider; I touch their business every day, and they embrace me as part of their team,” Gonzalez said, noting that she also feels fortunate to have spent her entire career in healthcare.

From her first job as a diagnostic and surgical scheduling coordinator in pediatric neurosurgery at what was then known as Miami Children’s Hospital, to working as a patient advocate at Baptist Hospital of Miami, Gonzalez later joined Baptist Health’s outpatient services division as a marketing/PR specialist in 2005 during a period of rapid expansion.

“That was very early in the walk in/retail health era, and that role truly catapulted my career,” she said. “It was fast moving with dynamic leadership, and I learned a lot in a short time, which propelled me into corporate marketing leadership.”

After 11 years at Baptist Health, Gonzalez transitioned into academic medicine, joining the marketing communications team at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and later leading those efforts at UHealth—the University of Miami Health System, where she spent nearly seven years spearheading high profile brand and service line campaigns and major expansion initiatives. In the summer of 2020, during the COVID pandemic, she launched her consulting practice. Gonzalez soon landed a large Pittsburgh-based health system as her first client, a partnership that continues today.

In addition to her physician group consulting work at KIDZ, Gonzalez’s client portfolio includes academic, community, and rural health systems, as well as outpatient care operators and a healthcare professional membership organization, which she feels broadens her perspective.

“No offense to marketers who market widgets, but I feel like there’s an extra special level of meaning when people’s lives are affected by what you do,” she said. “Working alongside an organization like KIDZ, and the people who pour their expertise into caring for women and children, remains my favorite part of this relationship.”



Growing Intentionally: The Challenge and Opportunity Facing Health Systems

By Pierre Monice

Health care leaders today face a difficult equation. Labor costs, expenses and economic pressures continue to climb, and many of the decisions shaping our industry happen outside our organizations entirely in policy, regulation and the broader economy. We’re being asked to do more with less. At the same time, the need in our communities keeps growing. In South Florida, too many people still lack consistent access to care.

We can’t control most of these pressures, but we still have to lead through them. That’s the challenge. The opportunity is what we do about it.

At Holy Cross Health, our answer is to grow with intention. We opened a new health center and emergency care facility in Deerfield Beach this year and recently broke ground on another in Fort Lauderdale. But when I stood at that groundbreaking, what struck me wasn’t the construction timeline. It was what’s actually being built: access to care, so people don’t put off treatment because it’s too far away or too difficult to reach.

Growth Doesn’t Mean Being Everything to Everyone

In a market with abundant health care options, we don’t have to be all things to all people. We know what we bring to the table as a faith-based institution, and our job is to double down on it: expanding where the community’s need is real and sequencing investments with discipline rather than growing for growth’s sake.

Philanthropy remains a cornerstone of that growth. This past fiscal year, the Holy Cross Health Foundation raised $15.2 million, funding key investments from a new Community Pharmacy launching later this summer to recent mammography equipment upgrades at the Dorothy Mangurian Comprehensive Women’s Center. As we expand into Deerfield and Downtown Fort Lauderdale, that same generosity continues to fuel both facility growth and patient care access.

As a not-for-profit system, we don’t do this alone. That kind of community partnership is what allows us to keep advancing care even as costs climb, and it’s a reminder that growth in this market isn’t just a hospital’s responsibility. It belongs to the whole community.

Culture Is the Hardest Thing to Scale

Stepping into a bigger challenge doesn’t change the fundamentals of leadership. It’s still about people: being present, having real conversations and staying connected to those closest to the work. As an organization grows, the impact of those behaviors only grows with it. Every new facility and every new team either reinforces what makes an organization work or dilutes it.

Trust isn’t built in big moments. It’s built over time, in how we show up with each other every day. It doesn’t automatically carry over to a new building. You have to be deliberate about it: in who you hire, how you develop leaders at each site, and whether people feel comfortable saying what’s working and what isn’t. Those conversations only happen when trust is already there, which is exactly why it can’t be an afterthought as an organization scales.

Listening Is the Discipline That Makes It Work

Some of my most valuable insights haven’t come from reports or strategy sessions. They’ve come from walking the halls, from new hires forming their first impressions, from patients and families experiencing our organization in real time. Sitting at the top shouldn’t give you all the answers. It should push you to get closer to them and to the people doing the work every day.

That discipline matters more, not less, as we grow. It’s easy for leadership to get pulled into capital plans and opening timelines and lose touch with what’s actually happening on the ground. The communities we serve and the colleagues delivering care every day will tell you what’s working if you’re present enough to hear it.

The systems that succeed in this market won’t simply be the ones that build the most. They’ll be the ones that grow with purpose: clear about who they are, honest about what their communities need, and disciplined about protecting quality and culture as they scale. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to at Holy Cross Health today and as we continue to grow.

Pierre Monice is President & CEO, Holy Cross Health.