Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville enhancing visitor, team member experience with new dining and lounge area

Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville will offer a new and enhanced dining experience upon completion of a $4 million construction project in spring 2022. The enhanced experience will result from complete demolition and reconstruction of current space on the 8^th floor of the Wolfson Family Adult Tower on the campus home to Baptist Jacksonville and Wolfson Children's Hospital. The space will also include conference rooms for meeting and educational purposes.

"The renovation will modernize the cafeteria for our team members, physicians, and patients' visitors," said Nicole B. Thomas, FACHE, hospital president of Baptist Jacksonville. "The new space will provide a beautiful new serving area for a café, dining space and a lounge with a wonderful view of the St. Johns River. During non-meal hours, the lounge will be a place of respite for everyone."

The new café will offer multiple food options and an easy flow for customers. The lounge will be open for extended hours, even when the café is closed. In addition to the new café and lounge, three new, state-of-the-art video conference rooms with the latest technology equipment are being created for team meetings and educational purposes.

Office space for Baptist Jacksonville administration and a boardroom will also be updated during the construction. The new administrative space is being funded by a generous donation from T. O'Neal Douglas through the Baptist Health Foundation.

"I was privileged to serve as chairman of the board for Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and for Baptist Health for several years," Douglas said. "After my tenure, they chose to name the boardroom for me. The current remodeling and updating of the boardroom and adjoining administrative area is another opportunity to express my appreciation for the wonderful medical care provided to Jacksonville and surrounding area residents. My family joins me in that appreciation."

"We are excited to offer this new experience to our visitors and team members, and we are grateful for our donor support," said Michael D. Aubin, FACHE, hospital president of Wolfson Children's Hospital and chief philanthropy officer for the Baptist Health Foundation. "This is the first update of this space in 30 years, and we believe we will have something extraordinary to offer our visitors and team members once construction is complete."

The construction is scheduled to be completed in March 2022.

Artist renderings of the new space are available here.