The Naples Planning Advisory Board has given its approval for NCH Cardiac Institute construction.

The Naples Planning Advisory Board decided to approve all three phases of the NCH Cardiac Institute at its downtown Baker Hospital Campus following a nearly ten-hour meeting.

The five-story building, which will offer cutting-edge stroke care, would be situated in the main plaza of the healthcare system, where the Telford Education Center currently stands, according to a recent article by Ryan Abrogast of NBC2.

Vice Chair of the NCH Board of Trustees Michael Wynn stated, “Naples has always been a leader in innovation, a community that leveraged the community and its generous gifts to continue to be one of the best places to live and work in the world.”

The development of the hospital was initially proposed for 2021, and it is fully financed by the healthcare system and charitable contributions.

According to the Naples Community Hospital, the heart, vascular, and stroke institute would have surgical rooms, doctor’s offices, and around thirty patient rooms in addition to training facilities on its lower levels.

Wynn continued, “The data is actually what’s driving this. The location is where it needs to be to serve that population at the highest risk. According to a recent hospital study, five miles around the facility is where five percent of the county’s cardiac 911 calls were made.”

The proposed facility has been in front of the local authorities for more than two years; Naples Community Hospital first revealed it in 2021.

“As a community, we expect the greatest healthcare, and NCH delivers it,” said Gary Price, who is running for mayor of Naples in the upcoming election and has been a strong proponent of the hospital system. Additionally, he stated before the vote, “To have anything get in the way of that, to delay this process, to keep us from having that, is really what got the public’s attention.”

At the hearing on Wednesday at the city council headquarters, hundreds of Collier County citizens turned up, many of them carrying placards and wearing shirts that supported the institute’s building. The approximately 10-hour meeting consisted of three sessions with dozens of presenters.

“On January 5th, I went into full cardiac arrest. I passed away at my home in Lake Park, which is 1.1 miles from the hospital. I didn’t receive CPR right away. Emergency Services got there, and they estimate about 10-15 minutes. They say four minutes is brain damage, and six minutes is death. There’s no medical justification that I made it,” stated James Kurnik, who spoke at the meeting. “They got me to NCH Baker and then worked a miracle. I was in a coma for four days. I came out miraculously after four days. If there was a distance, if they had to take me to Immokalee Road, I don’t think I would’ve made it.”

The planning advisory board offered the following concessions for the proposed hospital:

• 10-foot, one-story reduction in the parking garage. 
• An environmental strategy to prevent construction from harming the area’s mahogany trees
• Signs for hospitals won’t face residential areas.

Wynn continued, “To be honest, this is the biggest gift ever given to the citizens of Naples.”

The city council will now vote on the facility under those terms.

This article originally appeared on NBC2