When the second phase of Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital’s Emergency Department renovations commences in January, the project will be $5 million better funded thanks to a grant from the legacy foundation of longtime John’s Island resident James Clark, bringing the project total raised locally to $20 million.

Once completed, the Emergency Department will feature 38 acute  rooms and a capacity for nearly 100 patients total. Indian River has the busiest Emergency Department in the Cleveland Clinic Florida family of hospitals, serving more than 55,000 patients per year

An additional $500,000 of the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation’s investment in Vero’s hospital will be split between the Behavioral Health Center and the new maternity unit improvements to be unveiled on Monday (see related story).

“The support from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation builds on our momentum and enables more people to receive emergency care, timely mental health assistance and more mothers and babies to benefit from the high standards of care we have achieved,” said Dr. Richard Rothman, vice president and chief medical officer at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital.

When Jim Clark, a seasonal John’s Island resident since 1988, died in March 2015, the prolific Washington, D.C.-area builder of hotels, public buildings and other notable structures entrusted his closest business partners and his daughter, John’s Island resident Courtney Clark Pastrick, with giving away the vast majority of his estate over the next decade.

The Maryland-based A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation was established and staffed to carry out Clark’s final wishes. So far, the foundation has awarded $1.4 billion, with a focus on engineering, veterans issues, educational opportunities and health initiatives.

“The A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation is thrilled to make this investment in Cleveland Clinic’s Indian River Hospital to strengthen its ability to meet the healthcare needs of the individuals and families it serves here in Indian River County,” said Pastrick, who chairs the Clark foundation, and is also a past chair of the John’s Island Foundation.

Gabriel Brooks, executive director of operations at the Vero hospital, said of the gift, “The $5 million investment from the Clark Foundation enabled the full scope of the project and specifically contributed to the expansion of triage, an additional 8 acute rooms, and a redesigned front entrance and lobby.”

To keep up with demand by the soaring number of patients who present in the ED, treatment areas over the years had been constructed ad hoc to handle the volume, with cubicles added when foot traffic remained brisk after Covid-era tents were taken down.

The result is a semi-permanent maze of 30 acute-care rooms plus 37 triage and treatment bays never intended to still exist in the current configuration years later. Overhauling the ER was at the top of the list of priorities of the hospital’s former head, Dr. David Peter, as he courted local donors.

Thanks to a major gift from Vero Beach businessman Ron Rosner and his wife Nancy, Emergency Department renovations kicked off with the addition of a secure area for patients who turn up in the ER in a mental health crisis.  The Indian River County Hospital District also funded the team needed to quickly evaluate and process mental health patients in the ED, drastically cutting their time waiting to be admitted to the Behavioral Health Center across the street.

Peter handed the ED renovation plans and fundraising campaign off to his successor, Dr. Rothman, and Phase One construction began early this year.  A new CT scanner and specialized stroke diagnostic equipment were also added just steps away from where ambulances bring patients to the ED.

To make way for new permanent treatment rooms equipped for multiple uses, the existing cancer infusion facilities located in the hospital’s Patient Pavilion needed to be removed.

“Phase One was the expansion of the infusion bays over at the Scully Welsh Cancer Center.  We had to do that to make room for the Flex Care expansion of the ED. Phase Two is the construction of the Flex Care space that adds 20 treatment spaces. We are breaking ground on that space the week of January 12,” Cleveland Clinic spokesperson Raquel Rivas said.

Phase three will tie everything together. “Once the Flex Care space is complete in late 2026, we will begin Phase Three, which is the triage area, eight additional acute rooms, and main entrance and lobby redesign,” Rivas said.