Lee Health

Our origins can be traced to the Fall of 1916 when a group of community leaders set aside 300 dollars, and donated lumber from the dismantled Court House, to build the first hospital in Fort Myers. That first hospital, Lee County Hospital, a two story, four room, 10 bed, wooden building was the beginning of community health care in our area.

Today, Lee Health, formerly Lee Memorial Health System, consists of four acute care hospitals: Lee Memorial Hospital, HealthPark Medical Center, Gulf Coast Medical Center and Cape Coral Hospital, and two speciality hospitals: Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida and The Rehabilitation Hospital. With a total of 1426 beds, and over 1 million patient contacts each year, this makes Lee Health the largest public health system in the state of Florida, receiving no direct tax support.

Supported by more than 14,000 dedicated employees and 4,500 volunteers and auxilians, Lee Health remains the bedrock of our community by offering acute care, emergency care, rehabilitative and diagnostic services, health and wellness education, community outreach and advocacy programs throughout the five county region. We continue to invest back into our community to improve facilities, add services and extending care to those who need it most - in their own back yard.

Since we opened our first hospital over 100 years ago, our dedication to our community - the people with whom we live and work - has been at the core of Lee Health's mission, values and strategic planning principles.

We are Lee Health: Caring People, Inspiring Health.

Key Facts

• • Lee Health

    • Founded in 1916
    • More than 14,000 employees
    • More than 4,000 volunteers and auxiliary members
    • 1,480 physicians on the medical staff
    • Governed by a publicly elected, 10-member Board of Directors
    • One of the largest public health systems in the state of Florida that receives no direct tax support; we are a safety net hospital for our community and a member of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance.
    • Lee Health has more than 1 million patient contacts each year
    • The system provided more than $360 million in community benefit in 2017—this includes the cost of charity care for low-income patients, the cost of unpaid Medicaid, the cost of unpaid Medicare and other government-sponsored programs, the cost of providing other community benefits and less the benefit of taxes.
    • Lee Physician Group—Lee Health’s multispecialty physician group—consists of more than 550 primary and specialty care physicians and advanced practitioners in 57 practice locations throughout Southwest Florida
    • In October 2016, Lee Memorial Health System marked its 100^th anniversary and officially transitioned its name and identity to Lee Health—a brand that better represents our mission and goal of improving the health and well-being of residents and visitors of Southwest Florida. The new brand also reflects our commitment to the future of health care delivery—which is shifting from repair-center focused, episodic care to healthier lifestyles, prevention, chronic care management, health education and improved coordination of care.

     

    Lee Health is also comprised of four acute care hospitals and two specialty hospitals.

     

    Cape Coral Hospital

    • A 291-bed acute care facility with all private rooms.
    • DNV-GL Certified Primary Stroke Center
    • Women’s Care – Family Birth Suites
    • Special Care Nursery
    • 10-bed Neurosurgical Progressive Care Unit
    • Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
    • The first community hospital in the state of Florida to receive the Governor’s Sterling Award (2015)
    • Also in 2015, Cape Coral Hospital earned the Florida Hospital Association’s Celebration of Service Award for Leadership in Quality and Patient Safety.
    • In early 2015, the hospital became the first in the state to achieve the 4 Star Award of “Florida Quest for Quality Maternity Care Award” Baby Steps to a Baby-Friendly Hospital.
    • Named a 2016 Top Hospital by The Leapfrog Group

     

    Gulf Coast Medical Center

    • A 356-bed acute care facility that opened in March 2009 when Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center and Gulf Coast Hospital merged into a new, state-of-the-art hospital. 240 of the 356 rooms are private.
    • DNV-GL Certified Comprehensive Stroke Center
    • Obstetrics and Gynecology
    • Gulf Coast Medical Center also features a neurointerventional suite, which includes a Siemens Artis Zee biplane imaging system used to treat intracranial aneurysms, vascular malformations and stroke.
    • Lee Health Board of Directors approved an expansion project that will add 268 beds, three floors, and 367,500 square feet to the hospital. Completion of the expansion is expected in 2021.

     

    HealthPark Medical Center

    • A 270-bed acute care facility that opened in 1991
    • HealthPark Medical Center is a designated Chest Pain Center and Heart Failure Center, fully accredited by the Society of Chest Pain Centers
    • Obstetrics and Gynecology
    • Shipley Cardiothoracic Center
    • The Siemens Artis zeego angiography system is operational at HealthPark Medical Center for regional patients who need a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

     

    Lee Memorial Hospital

    • A 351-bed acute care facility that opened in 1916
    • DNV-GL Certified Primary Stroke Center
    • Level II Trauma Center
    • Rehabilitation Hospital—comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation
    • Orthopedics
    • Joint Center
    • Florida State University College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program
    • Skilled Nursing Unit

     

    Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida

    • A new, 128-bed inpatient facility opened in 2017 which includes a 64-private room Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for Level II and Level III patients.
    • The only accredited children’s hospital between Tampa and Miami, Golisano Children’s Hospital is an active member of both the Children’s Hospital Association and the Florida Association of Children’s Hospitals.
    • Milk lab to process and store breast milk for hospitalized babies
    • Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Center
    • Burn service unit
    • Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
    • Child Life Specialists
    • School Teacher with dedicated classroom
    • Music Therapy Program
    • Child Advocacy/Safe Kids Program
    • PPEC (Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care) Center for children with complex special needs in a day care setting
    • Named a Top Hospital by The Leapfrog Group in 2016 - 2019 (only ten or so children’s hospitals nationwide received the recognition) 

     

    Rehabilitation Hospital

    • A 60-bed, comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation facility—the only one of its kind in Lee County.
    • The Rehabilitation Hospital has special certification in stroke management; is a member of the Lee Health trauma team; and is a state of Florida Department of Health designated brain and spinal cord injury inpatient rehabilitation program for the five-county region covered by the Trauma District.